Developing Skills From AS

I feel that my skills which I have learnt from studying AS Media will greatly help me in my year of A2. Whilst developing my production at AS Level, I learnt numerous things, such as the importance of framing, mise-en-scene, sound, editing and cinematography, and how these factors can connote meaning to the audience. The film which I previously created was of the horror genre, and I researched into the stereotypes and expectations which surround this genre of film. I complied with these expectations to make the film look believable. However, on reflection, I feel that it would have been more effective if I had tried to break some of these expectations. This would have allowed the film to resonate with the audience, and would therefore would have been more effective, due to the fact that they would have been thinking about it after viewing it.

Also, when I looked back at the film - Branded - which I shot for AS, I noticed that there were many objects within the frame that had not significance to the narrative and had no other connotations. This made the film look messy and unprofessional, and took away the sense of realism which I wanted to create. To prevent this from happening at my A2 production, I will carefully analyse the shot which is in frame before I start shooting, to ensure that the footage is of the highest quality. This is essential this year, due to the fact that my film falls into the drama and social realist genre.

Whilst creating my AS film, my group, myself included, tended to focus more heavily on cinematography and mise-en-scene. Editing and sound were treated as an after-thought, which resulted in them not being as effective as it possibly could have been. To combat this issue whilst creating my A2 production, I will ensure that there is both a clear shot list and clear storyboard for my film, which outlines the sound and editing techniques that I will use.

The technology which was used while creating my AS production will also help me at A2. My group used Adobe Premiere on the Mac software to edit the film, and, although we edited it to a high standard, I feel that I will have more of an idea of what to do to create an effective looking film, due to trial and error. I will also use a tri-pod whilst shooting many of the shots for 'Flight'. This is because many of the shots from last year's film were shaky, which, although is effective in some cases (due to the portrayal of distortion), only deducted from the overall professional feel of the film.

Overall, I want 'Flight' to have a much more professional feel to it, to ensure that the appeal to film audiences is maximised. To do this I will plan the footage which is to be shot before filming, and also have a higher amount of consideration for sound and editing which will accompany the clips.