Film Opening

My AS Film Opening:

Preliminary Task

Both metaphorically and physically. We start off AS Media with a small project where we must show our camera work and editing skills through the opening of a door. In groups of threes, we're supposed to film a short where a character opens a door and enters a room to have a short conversation with another character, before leaving. The dialogue can be however we want it to be and we can have any range of time filmed. Haven't finished yet, but so far it has been rather enjoyable and interesting to do.

After finishing the filming, somebody joined our group and we had four working on the editing, splitting into groups of twos. so there are two final products; one edited together by the new guy and I, and the other edited by the other two in our group; the actors.

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Big distribution companies such as Warner Bros. and Universal, which we used in our opening, have distributed many post-apocalyptic films before, and so may distribute this one if it were a bigger production with a more recognisable cast and crew. However, being an independent film, I imagine smaller companies would be more likely to distribute it, such as Vertigo Films and Verve Pictures, two independent distribution companies based in the United Kingdom. If we were to reach out to a distribution company, a small independent British one may be our best option.


We used Universal in our film opening because it fit with the tone and they have distributed many post-apocalyptic films. While it would have been more suitable to use a smaller, independent company, we used Universal due to it being more recognisable and common in other post-apocalyptic films; a convention of post-apocalyptic films, in a way.

Question 4/5 - Who would be your audience and how did you attract/address them?

Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

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Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I could not edit the finale few strips due to the website not allowing me to continue unless I subscribed. I did, however, manage to say most of what I wanted to.

'Looking for Utopia' Audience Feedback

I'm relatively pleased with our film opening, despite the problems that I believe occurred during the filming stages. I'm not too fond on the monologue, as I believe that it sets an entirely different tone to the footage. The acting wasn't anything spectacular either, with the exception of the actress involved in the project, who portrayed the role of a cannibal very well. The shots overall were rather impressive, despite the fact that we had to film a number of shots again for improvement. Editing was the most successful, thanks to my partner, Steve. The product looks like a legitimate post apocalyptic film opening.

Audiences seem to enjoy the opening more than I do, complimenting the use of camerawork, scripting and editing. So far, audiences include three of my friends, my Media teacher, some of my peers from my Media class, and a few people working in media that my teacher shared it with. Overall, the feedback seems positive with most of the criticising coming from myself, and so I would call 'Looking for Utopia' a successful product.

Sound and Lighting Editing

Steven, with some of my input, has been working on editing our film opening project. By some miracle, much of the diegetic and non-diegetic sound fits perfectly with the opening. We thought it'd be a disaster, but it is coming together relatively well. He's also worked on some lighting making many lighter shots quite a bit darker. The lighting, sound, shots and distribution companies so far fit together quite well and I'm impressed with the step we've taken. However, we still have lots of editing to do, such as more work on the lighting and the addition of the titles, including the main title itself. While the project isn't going as well as I had hoped, it is going much better than it was a week ago.