Final Film

Continuity Exercise and Edit Workshop Evaluation

Continuity Editing
We were asked to storyboard, stage and edit a continuity sequence. We worked in groups of 3 but edited individually. The events which occurred in the sequence were given in the brief 'A character opens a door, crosses a room and sits down in a chair opposite another character/characters, with whom he/she then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue' However as a group we came up with a storyline, based in a police station where two girls were being interrogated after being caught breaking into an office in order to steal files. Coming up with a interesting storyline was an example of our creativity to develop the scenario.
The key skills we were asked to demonstrate was a knowledge and understanding of shot reverse shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule. We also had to include areas of suspense and an interesting variety of settings. We also had to use a interesting range of camera shots and angles, film a wild cat sound track and extra cut aways for smoother editing.
For this project I worked with Rianne Hanooman and Zahra Khan, overall we worked well together as all of our opinions were taken into account and we all had a shared amount of work to do.
Our storyboard was helpful when filming the scenes but not as successful when editing. I changed the order of most of the shots as I felt they didn't fit well together.

Edit Workshop Evaluation

Throughout the production we stuck to the brief including all four main tasks. The 180 degree rule was hard to follow as you could only film from a certain angle and it prevented us from filming some of the shot that were on the story board. During the post production I found that, when filming we broke the 180 degree rule which we had to re-film, However we demonstrated and understanding of the Rule of thirds, Match on action and Shot reverse shot. 

Rule of thirds

Match on Action

Shot Reverse Shot

We came across a few challenges during the production stage, as we put all our concentration towards the storyline and lost focus on the main task. If I was to film again I would over film all shots so when editing if there is a mistake I have other shots to fall back on rather than filming the whole shot again, I would also use a bigger range of shot types. I didn't find the post-production as challenging, however if had a chance to edit again I would be sharper with the cuts making the continuity sequence a lot smoother.

The overall creativity was a strength as we had a storyline which created suspense and interest. We included a flashback which told the audience why the characters were in the situation they were in which was also fun to film.

For the setting we used a secluded area adding to the atmosphere and mood of the scene, we also filmed the outside of a police station making it more realistic.

I found the technology simple to use which made the the post production much easier. We filmed many cut aways in order to reduce the jumpiness of the film which worked well as it made it flow better and added to the suspense and tension, it also made editing and putting the shots together less challenging. 

Storyboarding was useful during the production however, when editing I changed the order of all the shots as I felt it worked better. My aim was to leave the audience asking questions as to why the two girls were being interrogated and then to reveal at the end why. 

There were also many weaknesses, for example we often forgot about the rule of thirds and the 180 degree rule which broke the continuity and wasted time as we had to re-film certain shots. If I could improve, I would use a wider variety of shot types and angles in order to make the scene more interesting. I would also overshoot so I had more shots to choose from when editing.

What Makes A film Successful

What makes a film successful?

There are many factors that contribute to making a film successful. When a film has been successful at the box office it is referred to as a 'Box Office Hit' which means the film has made a significant profit on the money that was spent on the production, however a 'Box Office Flop' or 'Box Office Bomb' is when the film has made minimal profit or loss of money.

The film storyline is a big part of whether the film is successful or not. A storyline that appeals to a wide variety of audiences is more likely to be a hit, it also needs to be a storyline that the audience can relate to or in order to escape from reality.
 Films that are originally books, comics or plays are usually successful at the box office as audiences already know what to expect because they liked the book for example. 
Sequels are also successful as they have already got a built in audience for a follow-up film, however this could be a box office disaster as it is known for films to decrease in quality as the sequel continues and fail to live up to the success of the first film. For example, Basic Instinct made $352,700,000 overall, but Basic Instinct 2 made only $38,509,330 which was a box office flop. 
Famous actors play a big role in a films success, if an actor has a large fan base, those people are more likely to watch the films they are in, the actors also promote the film by attending interviews and premiers. Brad Pitt is one of the most famous actors and the success of the films he is in links to his popularity, all of the films he has been in have been box office hits. (Fight club, Mr & Mrs Smith, Seven, Oceans eleven/twelve, interview with a vampire and many more.) 
A well known director is another important element. A director with a large amount of cinema success have experience and know what attracts an audience, they would also be famous for the films they have created, promoting their current films.
The budget of the film and the film production costs total to a large amount of money. Having an expensive budget can be negative as well as positive. The more money spent on production  will create a bigger success for the film as there will be more special effects, increasing the quality. On the other hand, if the film is a box office flop, they wouldn't have made back the money they spent on the promotion stages. An example of this is 'The adventures of Pluto Nash' Their budget was $100,000,000. Within the first weekend they made $218,200,900 then overall made $4,420,080; which was a massive box office bomb.

My Media Summer

During these summer holidays, I have watched many films in the cinema of all different genres as I enjoy a wide variety of films. I have watched 'The Dark Knight Rises' which is the third Batman film, directed by Christopher Nolan. The Dark knight began their marketing campaigns in the early stages of the production in order to give the film further promotion and success which paid off as the film was given a 8.5 out of 10 which I strongly agree with.

I also watched 'The Watch' which was a comedy film, I enjoyed this mainly because of the cast which included Richard Ayoade, Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill and Ben Stiller. I found Richard Ayoade's role most entertaining as I find him hilarious in the other films and television programmes he stars in.

Over the summer I've listened to a variety of music, However I dislike new music which has recently been released in the charts as I prefer old music that came out in the 90's and early 2000's. However I did go to the wireless festival and saw many new and upcoming artists perform.

I've watched several T.V programmes over the holidays, I have watched a lot of my favourite programmes which are mainly British comedy (The I.T crowd, Miranda and Misfits), although I do enjoy American dramas such as Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars. I also watched many of Olympic games events which was hosted by London this year.







I frequently went on Youtube, Twitter and Google. I find Youtube interesting as it keeps me updated on all the new films music and T.V shows out. I used Twitter to socialise and keep in contact with people.

The main story in the news that caught my attention was the GCSE grades and how they were marked harshly, this appealed to me as I was one of the students that received my results in the summer.