LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FINAL PRODUCT?

Looking back at my preliminary, it is evidently clear that I have enhanced my skills and developed new ones during the creation of my final product.

Since the preliminary task, I have developed my knowledge of the codes and conventions that are associated with the coming of age genre by researching the target audience of various other coming of age films. This has allowed me to include these particular conventions in my opening sequence. For example, including themes that are popular with a teenage audience, such as romance, has allowed for me to enhance my sequence so that it represents an opening typically found in a coming of age piece.

Furthermore, watching other coming of age films allowed me to understand the different styles held by production and distribution companies. For example, 'Vertigo Films' produce films that are quite fast-paced and full of action whereas 'Film4' like to focus on a distinctive narrative. By looking at their different production techniques, I was able to learn that pushing my main focus towards different elements of production would change my sequence's overall appearance.

By researching the primary and secondary audience, I was able to learn about what attracts a particular audience to a film and how they can be addressed through the use of production elements. For example, using a piece of mainstream music is more likely to attract a younger audience and including themes such as stress and anxiety allows the film to address issues they may be experiencing.

Additionally, since the preliminary task, my knowledge of sound has improved greatly. I learnt that in an opening sequence, sound helps to create a specific atmosphere and using different styles of sounds can result in the creation of contrasting atmospheres. For example, using a slow-paced acoustic piece of music can create a calm and gentle atmosphere whereas using a high-pitch piece of music with a slow tempo can create a sad atmosphere. By looking at different pieces of music, I was able to choose a style that would help create an atmosphere that would link with the mise-en-scene and editing.

Furthermore, I have also learnt much more information about typography and mise-en-scene. In the majority of the opening sequences I have analysed, the typography is used to symbolise the protagonist's personality and to represent the narrative. For example, in our opening sequence, the typography was white so as to symbolize the protagonist's innocence, and it was hand-written- thus representing the school-based themes of the narrative.This allows for the audience to gain a basic understanding of the narrative as a whole. Additionally, with mise-en-scene, I learnt about the importance of lighting and how this can affect the atmosphere of the piece. Using high-key lighting makes the sequence seem happy and joyful whereas low-key lighting can make it seem dark and miserable. Also, my knowledge on proxemics has vastly improved as I learnt how the positioning of characters can establish their relationships.

Since the preliminary task, I have also learnt about various different camera angles which I have been able to include in my opening sequence, thus making it more visually interesting. By looking at how the narrative can be represented through the use of camera angles, I learnt that the positioning of the camera can affect how the audience thinks about a character. In my sequence, when the audience first meet Kyle, a low angle shot is used to make him seem powerful. The scene then cuts to be Luna, who is shown through the use of a high angle shot which makes her seem innocent and powerless. By doing this, it creates a contrast between the characters. Finally, I have also learnt a lot more about different editing techniques since my preliminary task. During my preliminary video, the only editing techniques I used were 'match-on-action' and 'shot/reverse shot'. In my final edit, I have not only enhanced by use of these techniques but I have also included various others that have enhanced the continuity of my sequence

Overall, I feel that my knowledge has expanded since the preliminary task, and this can be seen in my final piece. My understanding of the audience has greatly improved, allowing to know exactly what attracts them to a film. Furthermore, my understanding of the 'coming of age' genre and it's primary and secondary audience has improved, allowing me to determine which camera angles, elements of mise-en-scene, sound, typography and editing techniques would be suitable for my opening sequence.