Beth

This blog will be used to display my AS Media Studies Coursework!!

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Final Product

This is my final Opening Sequence, which presents footage in which I have filmed myself and continuity editing that I have also used. 

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Evaluation #1

“What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute your product and Why?”

I have created a prezi to present my response to this evaluation question. 

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Evaluation #2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In my opening sequence there are two characters that make an appearance; 

Jamie

Blair

BLAIR

Blair Initially my sequence only had my character ‘Blair’ in it, so in my pitch I had only discussed the representation of her. I wanted to represent her as vulnerable as she was the victim of a ghastly crime and I believed that I could achieve this vital representation. Technical codes alongside Mise en scene helped me thoroughly achieve this representation. For example, in the second scene there were several close ups which conveyed Blair as very scared and childlike and so the audience easily perceived her as weak and vulnerable. In the shot where Blair is holding onto the tree and looking over her shoulder is a great shot as it captures her representation perfectly. It shows that she is using something bigger as protection and is always scared therefore is looking if she being chased. This shows that she is in fact the victim. The body language of Blair when she's screaming further represents her as naïve too as screaming indicates fear which further indicates vulnerability. In this scene there is no dialogue but the diegetic sound of her scream is quietened and echoed which, despite the lack of volume, creates a haunting atmosphere to this scene. Alongside this I included a non diegetic composition of just piano further influenced the overall representation of spryness and unease. The creepy setting of the forest also helps to build my representation of Blair as being the victim too. Forests are perceived as being eerie and mysterious, as the largeness and depth of the greenery creates the fear of the unknown. Therefore I effectively combined the representation of my protagonist and the already existed representation of the forest. The editing technique of ‘ellipses’ I used in my sequence where in one shot Blair is stationary to the next shot where she is running is used to create an enigma of what is the motive for her running? This then adds to my representation of her being the prey and so is therefore effective. This representation is crucial to my narrative as it helps distinguish the protagonist from the antagonist which results in a clear understanding by the mainstream audience. It is important that Blair is represented in this way right away as then the audience can learn to sympathise and take liking to her which is the correct relationship that the audience should have with the protagonist. This then leads to why this representation is crucial to my target audience. As Blair is of a similar age to my target audience, she needs to be relatable. She is represented as vulnerable here and so it evokes a vital response from the audience as they then feel like ‘imagine that was me!’ which is the best way to captivate and engage them. I based my character of Blair on the character of ‘Susie Salmon’ from ‘The Lovely Bones’ as she is also represented as naïve and  vulnerable and shares a similar look to my character. 

JAMIE

After I decided to feature two characters in my opening sequence, I was really unsure of which character I wanted to feature. I was apprehensive to show the protagonist in my opening sequence as I didn't want the identity to be given away just yet. However, I eventually decided that having my film come from the perspective of the protagonist would be interesting and unusual and so therefore I decided upon having the first scene of the sequence about the protagonist. I then had to work upon how I wanted to represent the protagonist. I eventually thought it would be sensible to follow the norm and the stereotype of having my protagonist as a male and so I cast a boy to play the protagonist to ensure that my sequence would be conventional. I wanted to then represent him as a person who is quite mentally unstable and somewhat evil. The first close up the audience sees of the character of ‘Jamie’ is a side close up of him within black surroundings and with his hood up. Immediately the audience are uneasy of who this character is as he is immediately conveying mystery. His furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips add to this representation too. There is another shot where the camera pans to another side close up of Jamie taking down his hood and scowling at something off scream which the audience then understand to be the computer in which he is researching things on. One of the last shots is of Jamie’s hands on his desk which he has placed a four bladed knife. I set out all of the items on the desk very symmetrically and even to further suggest he is a clinical and OCD obsessed boy, which adds to his unfit personality. The knife has connotations of danger and violence and so these props were perfect in achieving this representation as the obvious links that these props have enable the mainstream audience to understand the representation I was hoping to achieve. The thought of a darkly lit bedroom doesn't immediately create fear or angst among an audience but when it comes to the screen it evokes the correct responses. I decided to make this setting quite scary as the normality of a bedroom linked with the evil actions of my character creates unease among the audience as they then believe evil actions can take place in normal settings which is equally frightening an abstract settings. For example, John Carpenter said “To make Michael Myers frightening, I had him walk like a man not a monster.” insinuating that the only way to make his antagonist scary was to make him one of the audience; ‘normal’. This was the exact representation that I was going for. This representation was crucial to my narrative too as it allows the audience to understand the antagonist straight away without any of the enigma. They were able to create an unusual and abstract relationship with the antagonist which further enabled the audience to understand the narrative as they knew about the underlying events. Similarly to the representation of Blair, this representation was also crucial to the target audience as my antagonist is of a similar age to my target audience, they could relate to him. When looking for inspiration for my character, I found that ‘Norman Bates’ from Alfred Hitchcock's ‘Psycho’ was similar to Jamie. They are both young and mentally unstable, yet they are deceiving in looks s they are both once again perceived as ‘normal’. 

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Evaluation #3

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Overall, I think my opening sequence is very conventional. The sequence both develops and challenges codes and conventions of real media products and so it is very effective. 

“Codes are systems of signs, which create meaning.” Codes can be divided into two categories; technical and symbolic. Technical codes link to cinematography such as the camera work in a film, and symbolic refers to the embedded meanings within the film. 

“Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something.” Conventions are also very genre specific, so you’d expect to see specific aspects to a specific genre as that is the accepted norm.

SYMBOLIC CODES

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Institutional Codes 

The first code/convention of my opining sequence is my Institutional Codes. I placed my companies at the beginning of my sequence which is typical of the start to a film. Every audience member expects to see the institutional codes at the start of the film and so i have followed this pattern, resulting in me conforming to the typical conventions. For example, at the beginning of every film, companies such as 20th Century Fox and Universal are always shown before the film begins, and so that is why positioned my institutional codes at the beginning of mine.

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Titles 

The font of my titles also conforms to the conventions of a stereotypical horror. It represents that of unease, and so makes the audience feel in a way that is an intended emotion of the horror genre. It follows the patterns of other horror films such as se7en where the similar aesthetic is used to create this effect. The titles I have used are a symbolic code of both my narrative and genre. 

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Characters

In my sequence, I chose to cast a male antagonist and a female protagonist to pay the main characters of my sequence. Having a man to play the villain is perceived as conventional as many people expect to see the ‘dominant’ gender to overpower the ‘submissive’ gender. In the majority of opening sequences for horror/thriller films, there is a male antagonist so i decided to meet this expectation. For example, despite not seeing these clear gender roles in the opening sequence of The Shining, later in the film there is a clear male antagonist harassing a female protagonist which is exactly what I wanted to capture straight away. 

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Location

The location of my opening sequence is in a forest and so this immediately has connotations of eeriness as people link previous associations with this location, with the location in my sequence, adding to the creepy denotations that my location has. I have decided to include a stereotypically scary location to further conform to the codes and conventions of my chosen genre. I was inspired by the creepy misty look of the opening sequence in ‘The Others’. The beginning presents the manor in which the family live, and its dark and overgrown with a thick fog rising. This is immediately perceived by the audience as haunted and scary which are the same connotations as to what I was hoping for my location to achieve. I believe that there are specific locations which have the exact connotations of horror and so I decided to film in one of these locations; a forest. This means that I have conformed to the codes and conventions of a typical scary location.

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Costume

The costume of my opening sequence also conforms to the codes and conventions of a stereotypical horror/thriller film. For example, i have decided to have my antagonist in all black, as black has connotations of death and evil which are the exact themes that surrounds my opening sequence. The black glove is a symbolic code and is very key in creating the intended feel of my sequence, as the glove disables the audience from being able to identify who the character is, and suggests that the character is trying to cover up and hide their identity, creating enigma. The black hoodie and coat also has the same connotations and so constantly, throughout my sequence, is effective.

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Cinematography 

This shot in my sequence is very poignant as it is a typical mysterious and eerie shot. It is a darkly lit back-shot, highlighting a blurry computer and a focused character. Even though the character is in focus, as it is a backchat, you cannot identify the character thus adding to the suspense of my sequence. The symbolic code of mystery conveyed by the character is conventional and so is effective. For one of my iconic shots, I was inspired by the opening sequence of SCREAM once again. I was in awe of the clever depiction of fear in the shot of Casey on the hone to the mysterious anonymous character. I wanted to capture the same emotion, and was inspired by the clever connotations within. The naive and vulnerable emotion conveyed in the shot is a symbolic code of the genre and so as I have recreated that emotion, i have reinforced the typical codes and conventions. 

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Iconography

The iconography of my opening sequence matches that of ‘Halloween’ as they both represent violence. For example, Michael Myers reaches for a large kitchen knife and in my sequence, the antagonist reaches for a four bladed knife. Both of these are very sinister objects and so immediately, are symbolic codes of the violent themes that my opening sequence has. The associations linked to the knife are easily understood by the audience and so thus conforms to the typical symbolic codes or horror/thriller and violence. This also creates a sense of enigma as the audience start to wonder as to what is about to happen next. 

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TECHNICAL CODES

Within my sequence, one of the moist poignant technical code I incorporated is ‘ellipses’. This editing technique created enigma and suspense, as in one shot  my character was stationary in the forest and the next shot showed her running away. The cut of the middle shot enabled a conventional emotion to be provoked fro the audience, for example, the audience begin to wonder as to why the character starts to run as they do not see the cause. This is very effective as it adds to the tension of my sequence which is typical of a horror/thriller sequence.

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Evaluation #4

Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it the full product?

-How is my opening sequence better than your preliminary task?

My knowledge of the film industry has widened since creating my preliminary task and so therefore immediately makes my opening sequence much more advanced. Having a secure understanding of what makes a professional film helped developed my skills in order to make a better opening sequence. However, there are specific things that have enabled me to make my opening sequence much more clever and better than my preliminary task and so I will be discussing my progress.

CINEMATOGRPAHY 

The overall cinematography of my sequence has developed dramatically. In my preliminary task I had composed many shots badly which was a reflection of little understanding and skill when it came to filming. In the two shot of the two characters, the shot was captured ‘wonky’ and so therefore the composition was not good as I had not ensured that the camera was straight and I had not adopted the artistic eye to see whether my shot was off. This is a prime example as to why I have improved as when filming for my opening sequence I made a conscious effort to check and compose my shots more professionally before I captured them. This shows that I have developed my filming skills as I have improved my knowledge of composition thus making my final product much better than my prelim. ↓

I have varied many of my shots too. For example, in my preliminary task I stuck with safe shots such as mainstream mid shots of my characters but in my final product I decided to vary my shots by using extreme close ups, extreme long shots and shots where the camera pans. This adds to the creativity of my product thus increasing the appeal, whereas my preliminary was very basic and boring as I wasn't creative with including a range of aesthetically pleasing shots. In my prelim, my shots were very simple such as central shots of the interviewee, however, in my final product I capture many more angled shots and distanced shots. This was only possible due to the developed knowledge I had of composition and so thus makes my opening sequence much better. ↓

The planning of my final product has improved dramatically too. For example, in my prelim I had stupidly broken the 180 Degree rule while filming the office scene. In one shot the interviewer was sitting on the left hand side of the screen and then when the interviewee sat down he was in fact on the left hand side of the screen. This meant the audience were confused as to the set out of the scene thus ruining the whole effect. However in my final product, I had pre-empt any chance of making the same mistake as I had planned and used my detailed storyboard when filming. For example, I made sure that when my protagonist was tying her shoes facing left the next shot would still be of her facing in the left direction, even if it is only slightly. I looked thoroughly through the lens to make sure that I was following the unwritten rules which then allowed me to follow the pattern thus making the editing stage easier. ↓

EDITING 

The editing techniques that I have adopted in my opening sequence also vary and are more clever than this featured in my preliminary task. For example in my prelim I tried adopting the editing technique of ellipses, whereby the interviewee was at the door in one shot and the next he was sitting down. I had tried to cut out the middle shot of him walking to the chair as it was seen as  redundant. However, I realised when watching it back that it was too much of a jump in a short space of time and so It looked too stiff and it didn't have the effect that ellipses should have. Despite this un professional editing, I used the editing technique of match on action which worked very well as it was fluid and believable. This knowledge helped me use match on action cleverly in my final product whereby my antagonist drinks some water. In contrast to the bad use of ellipses in my prelim, I used ellipses very effectively in my final product. I used it to add mystery and enigma as one minutes she is looking behind her and the next she is running which makes the audience wonder as to what is happening. This has the intended effect and so is therefore effective compared to my preliminary task. ↓

REPRESENTATION / MISE EN SCENE 

In my preliminary task, the representation was not right. I wanted to represent my characters as an interviewer and an interviewee but the costume of the character was not correct therefore resulting in a bad representation of my characters. The interviewee was wearing casual clothes and trainers which is not suitable interview clothing so therefore ruins the understanding of the narrative for the audience as they become confused. However in my final product, I wanted to represent my antagonist as evil and a loner and so I made sure to dress him in all black, with his hood up to convey this to the audience. This then resulted in an effective understanding of the character types for my audience which then adds to the overall effectiveness of my sequence and helps ensure the verisimilitude of my sequence which also adds to the effectiveness. 

CONTINUITY

The continuity of my opening sequence is dramatically better than that of my preliminary task. For example, in my prelim the interviewee is waiting outside wearing a black Kurt Cobain t-shirt but then in the next shot he changed to having a white plain top on. Therefore the continuity was immediately lost which ruined the total atmosphere of the film. However in my opening sequence, I made sure that all of the continuity was in place such as in my first scene where the antagonist is on the computer. I had to make sure the glass of water was filled exactly the same in all shots. This meant the verisimilitude and effect was still in place thus resulting in my opening sequence being much better.

Location

My preliminary task was about an interview and so we chose an accurate location for our narrative. My interviewee walks into a small meeting room whereby the interviewer is sitting across a table ready to begin the interview. This setting was very ideal for our narrative and so when choosing locations for my opening sequence I used my knowledge for choosing a good location from my prelim to help me choose a perfect location for my final product. When reflecting on the narrative of my opening sequence I realised it would be best to choose a location that would be easily recognised by the audience as being eerie and creepy. This mentality I had was created by brainstorming ideas for my prelim. For example, we chose a small meeting room for the storyline of an interview as the office like room held the correct connotations. Therefore I decided on choosing a more extravagant setting such as the forest for the second scene as it had connotations of the genre of horror which are the exact links that my audience need to make to appreciate my sequence. I developed this logic and applied it even better to my final product thus proving that my opening sequence is better than my preliminary task. 

So overall my opening sequence is much better than my preliminary task for many reasons. My knowledge of the film world has developed, which allowed me to adopt all of the professional techniques on how to capture and create a good film. Planning was the most important factor however, as it allowed me to be certain on exactly how I was going to bring my visualisation to life. I used storyboards and shotlists to help me understand just what I needed to capture, I watched tutorials on how to capture brilliant shots and finally I just made sure I was sure of exactly what I wanted to create. My knowledge was the most important factor in progression though and so because I’ve developed my knowledge since creating my preliminary task, my opening sequence is much better.

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Evaluation #5

Who would be the audience or your media product?

Target Audience 

Age: 18-30

Gender: Both male and female, as my product is gender balanced.

Status: Middle class.

Likes/Dislikes: They enjoy going out for dinner and chilling out at home but dislike doing elaborate activities such as polo or golf. Their leisure interests include normal middle class activities like swimming or going to the cinema. 

Shopping Preferences: They like shopping at malls like ‘Lakeside Shopping Centre” with middle class shops and a food court. 

Music Interests: My target audience would be into the generic and normal chart music but into alternative music too, like The 1975 and Green Day. 

Films Watched in the Last 12 Months - films like The Hunger Games would interest my target audience as well as films of the same genre like ‘Poltergeist.’

KEY WORDS 

demographics - Study of a population based on factors such as age, race, sex, economic status, level of education, income level and employment, among others.

psychographics - Study of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles. Because this area of research focuses on interests, attitudes, and opinions

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As my film features a young antagonist and protagonist, this immediately appeals to my target audience as they can relate to life that my main characters are living. They will understand all references that my main characters make as they will make the same references in their everyday life too. This links to my marketing strategy! 

The fact that my two main characters are of a younger age is one of the main reasons as to why my film may appeal to my target audience. This is because the life portrayed in the film will be similar to that of my target audience making it much more appealing to them. This age group are currently being targeted in this way all the time in the film industry. For example, the element of reliability is key when engaging an audience, as it brings that connection for them. Cross media convergence will be vital when attracting my audience also. For example, I have set up a twitter account and a Facebook page promoting my film. As my audience  is young and are the prime people to be using social media and so therefore will attract my audience much more as they will easily see the promotion. The adverts for my films will include hashtags and usernames of the official social media pages for my film so the audience can be more engaged and interactive with my film as social media is apart of their everyday life. With films such as Spectre, pop star Sam Smith crated the main single from the Spectre sound track and so this was a successful way of boosting the promotion for both the film and the single which is a combination of the music and film industry. This then attracts a wider audience which maximises the recoginition and popularity of the product being advertised. I will adopt this clever strategy when promoting my film thus boosting the effective advertisement.

This is the small interview I did with a girl who fitted perfectly in my target audience. I asked her some questions about her favourite films and genre and she responded very well. This has helped me with my research and planning. 

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Evaluation #6

What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this media product?

In this video I will be discussing the significance of technology when creating my product and I will address my developed knowledge about new technology that has been introduced to the media industry. 

I used a green screen to film this video so that I could use other forms of media simultaneously to showcase what I have learnt. The creativity here is effective in conveying my new knowledge.

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Evaluation #7

How did you attract and address your audience?

In this edited edition of my opening sequence, I have deconstructed and broken down my product. I have discussed the ways in which my sequence appeals to its target audience and how it has attracted them. I have discussed things such as miss en scene, editing and representation. 

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Scene 1 - Prop list

I created a lost of all my props before filming my first scene so I knew exactly what I needed before shooting. Here is the list that I created of essential props.

Glass of Water 

Mouse Mat 

Knife

Hoodie 

Coat 

Keyboard

Computer

Mouse

Having this list really enabled me to know what I needed to create my scene and bring it to life. It was a simplistic scene but the list helped me make sure I remembered everything.

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Editing Process #5 - Sound

This is a sort clip to show how I managed to make my voice over sound as professional as possible. I had a lot of background noise in the audio of my voice over and so it ruined the whole sinister effect as it was quite ‘fuzzy’ and ambient. I therefore researched on how to get rid of background noise so that the voice over would purely be my actors voice. 

This video displays me highlighting the sound and clicking on audio analysis button whereby I enabled ‘remove background noise and reduced it so that it enhanced the primary voice and disregarded all secondary noise. This was perfect for reinforcing the eerie atmosphere and making it sound very professional. This was a vital aspect to my editing process and largely effected my final product in a very positive way. 

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Justification

In this post I will be justifying some of my choices that I made when creating my final product. For example, the reason as to why I chose to create an opening sequence in the genre of horror is because horror has always intrigued me and I have always loved directors like Alfred Hitchcock and so therefore I was keen to follow in his footsteps. 

I decided to make my film a 15 too as making it a 15 would allow it to get maximium appreciation without being wasted on the younger years. A 15 allows the content to be mature enough for the young teens and a little too mature for pre teens. This was the best way to allow my film to receive maximum recognition thus making it effective.

I also decided to cast a female protagonist as then I would be following the conventions of a typical horror film which would be effective in intriguing my audience, alongside casting a male antagonist. This conforms to the norms of horror films as woman are typically seen as vulnerable and so to have a female protagonist was a good idea. 

This is only a short justification outlining several parts of my decisions. These decisions then all combined to create my overall product

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Unused Footage

I filmed this piece of footage of my antagonist walking through the forests to add an element of mystery and intrigue to my opening sequence. The footage shows the covered antagonist hiding behind the trees. However, when piecing my footage together it did not fit how I intended it too, thus ruining the effect of my sequence. This piece of footage was a spontaneous piece also, so therefore this was another reason as to why it didn't fit. When filming I thought It would be good to have this footage but when editing, it didn't fit. Therefore it went unused. 

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Final Product Improvements

When I had completed my first draft of my opening sequence, I presented it to my teacher and asked for some constructive criticisms to allow me to improve even further as I had had some feedback prior to this. I sat down with my teacher and presented my sequence, whereby he gave me some useful tips on how to polish my sequence. Here are the improvements I made:

before                                                            after

When reflecting my second institutional code i realised that it was in fact too long. It showed a blank type writer slowly zooming in, and I understood that it was redundant and a little boring, so I cut the shot short so that it was a straight  jump to the full picture and the immediate typing. It worked much better than my previous draft of my institutional code and captured the concise and sweet element to my company.

before                                                            after

I had also made some grammatical errors. For example, one of my titles said ‘presents’ when it should have read ‘present’ in order to make sense and so I had to change it to remain professional. I also enlarged the font to emphasise my company names as I didn't want them to go unnoticed. Making them large highlights their importance. 

before                                                            after

I also composed a back shot of my antagonist on his computer, but i had blurred the computer to add enigma and mystery about what he was researching. However, this wasn't conveyed correctly and so it just looked like a badly composed shot as it was dark and so it all look blurred. I decided to re-film the shot and capture it a little higher to show that he was looking down upon the things he was researching to show his power. I also focused the computer so that the audience can see that he is researching suspicious things which adds to the unease of his character. However, I still kept the initial idea of capturing a back shot as you can only see the antagonists hands as it conveys much more mystery. It is composed much better and works very well.

before                                                            after

Lastly, I decided to enlarge the font of the title of my film as previously it didn't hold enough power as it resembled just another title. Positioning it in the centre more and making it much larger held the right conventions and the mainstream audience can now easily understand that it is in fact the name of my film. I also prolonged the length of the title on screen to further support this portrayal. 

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Opening Sequence Feedback

When I had completed my first final draft of my opening sequence, I gathered a focus group and asked for their feedback to help me understand as to whether I had appealed to my target audience correctly and to see as to whether there were any improvements that I could make. I have filmed two members of my audience and asked them whether they liked my first draft and if there were any improvements I could make.

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Voice Over

Here is the unedited version of the voice over in which features in my opening sequence. My actor plugged in some Beats Headphones into an Apple Mac and used audio capture to record his voice. He spoke into the microphone which recorded his voice. I then put that into Final Cut whereby I removed the background audio and enhanced the primary sound.  

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Storyboard #3

This is the storyboard I created for my first scene as this scene is a new addition to my product. I have included details of the shots filmed, and I have clearly drawn what I intended the shot to look like. 

This allowed me to know exactly what i wanted achieve for my first scene thus making filming very effective!

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Script for Evaluation #4

This is the script that I had written for my Green Screen video that I filmed  and edited.

“Hi I’m Beth Hodges and I go to Billericay School and I’m in year 12. The name of my film is ‘Puzzle’ and it is a certificate 15, in the genre of horror. I decided to make my film a 15 as after viewing many films in the new and improved cinemas I noticed that the films that received the most attention were films of a 15 certificate so I followed the pattern and tried to maximise my recognition and popularity. Also, I was always keen on creating an opening sequence in the genre of horror so I thoroughly enjoyed the research and planning stage as it allowed me to really develop my understanding of my favourite genre. In order to effectively and thoroughly complete my research and planning, I relied heavily upon technology to do this. For example, I used the internet to access YouTube which is large platform where videos are uploaded for the public to watch. On YouTube, I could watch and analyse opening sequences of films. This allowed me to fully understand the conventions of not only all opening sequences, but sequences in my preferred genre also. I noted down the stereotypes I saw in these opening sequences and all of the symbolic and technical codes that reoccurred in the majority of my sequence. I also researched the history of my genre alongside famous directors. This secondary data was only available because of technology and so I immediately relied heavily upon it. I also needed to document my findings that I had accumulated for my opening sequence, so I created a Tumblr account which is a large part of social network. Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking website which is widely used all around the world and so this was the perfect way to present my research and so was vital aspect to this stage. This is known as convergence as I am promoting my product of the film industry on the other media platform of social network. Also, I brought music and film together. For example, I needed music to accompany my opening sequence so I combined the audio of a simple composition with the high tech elements of my film. I am bringing together elements of media to widen my product in an effective way. When I started to get ideas for my opening sequence, I used PowerPoint on my laptop to create a pitch that I would present to my focus group. My pitch included samples of font I would use in my sequence, alongside the music I wanted to incorporate. It allowed me to express my ideas. When presenting to my focus groups I used special animations to further present my ideas in an entertaining way. PowerPoint is a fun way to present things to an audience, so therefore using this was a good way to engage my focus group further enabling better feedback. The feedback from my focus group helped me improve my ideas of my opening sequence. However, as I am near the absolute final of creating my opening sequence I have come a long way since my pitch. I have deepened my research through the things that technology has made possible such as the internet and so many of the ideas that I had initially discussed have changed and become stronger. For example, after piecing together my footage I had realised the music I had downloaded was not an ideal fit therefore I had to go back and find another composition to add alongside my footage to create my intended effect. Furthermore, equipment was very important when planning the finer details of my opening sequence. I needed high tech equipment to enable the best cinematography as possible. For example, I used my iPhone to take pictures of my actors which allowed me to create a casting profile. My phone was very important in the creating stage as I used it to take spontaneous pictures of things such as possible locations for my product if I was out and about. I then could the easily upload them to Tumblr from my phone or laptop so these pieces of equipment were key. When filming for my sequence, I used a Nikon DLSR 5320 and a standard tripod which were perfect for what I was filming. On the camera there was a special night mode in which allowed me to film in a darker location without losing the good quality which was perfect for my first scene where the antagonist is sitting in a dark eerie bedroom. This was essential! I also used Final Cut Pro to edit my footage which is seen as professional software. This is known as democratisation, as I am an amateur film maker using the same soft and hardware to create films as the profession blockbuster directors and editors. To help with my understanding of how to work on this professional level. As I am an amateur film maker, I used YouTube to watch tutorials on how to use Final Cut effectively, and how to capture professional shots which was needed as I was unexperienced in these fields. Gareth Edwards is a prime example of democratisation as he managed to create special effects and create realistic monsters all on his personal computer in his bedroom. Monsters became very popular and was highly appreciated despite the amateur process of creation.  The cinematography video I watched really helped with capturing top quality shots and so the technology really enables ordinary people to create art. I have learnt that democratisation is simultaneously a good and bad thing   I also used special websites to to make my evaluation better too, for example I used Prezi and E-Maze and even the green screen!! This clearly shows technological convergence working. So what have I learnt? I have learnt specific technological skills needed for film making; such as how to use a camera and how to use editing software. Even though there is a lot of technology available it still requires the knowledge of the art of film making i.e. how to compose a camera shot. Without this knowledge all the technology is worthless. I have also learnt about the power of convergence and how it is making film making accessible. This ultimately leads to the democratisation of the film world and as was stated in the documentary side by side will lead to greater interactivity by so called audiences. This clearly supports Gauntlett’s theory of the web 2.0″