My Learning Progress from start to end.

1. Mise en Scene, costume, props, lighting, settings: In the beginning of my learning process I didn't see Mise en Scene as very important, and I felt that you could just go with hat you have and make anything look good. But no, I think that this is the biggest thing I have learnt. Having the right props, costume, locations ect is extremely important, and I actually think that Mise en Scene played the biggest role within our opening sequence, especially as we had a 1970's flashback that needed to look realistic. I knew someone who works in a designer vintage shop, who allowed me to borrow the costumes for our 70's scene which was amazing as we had a very stylish and retro look going on which worked well with the 1970's Vintage convertible Mustang. By having costume and props, and a perfect location from the 70's, we were able to make the flashback extremely believable and realistic. I realised that by having everything down with costume, even to the accessories is key to create a realistic scene in a different time period. So the fine details like jewellery and sunglasses and shoes aided this atmosphere we were trying to create. For lighting, we were not able to use the lights we were given as they were not working, however we used different light sources to make up for it, e.g a bedside table aimed down at the floor for an ominous effect. I also planned to shoot the 70's scene on a sunny day at 7:00 on a sunday in the morning when the sun was out, and no one was on the street. This way we did not get any pedestrians walking around looking modern as it would have messed up the idea of it being in the 70's. We careful chose the setting and made sure that the camera had a way around it, and i mapped out where I would place the camera before the actors arrived to save time. I also took time to choose the perfect setting for the 70's scene. It was easy to find a setting for the rest of the shots, and a member of my group had a home that fit the style of house we wanted the characters to have. but overall I have learned that Mise en Scene is something you need to take your time on, and it is very important when it comes to filming your film.

2. Editing: My knowledge of editing prior to my opening sequence of my film was very minimum. I just about knew how to fade in sounds, and music. However I am now able to layer sounds, and layer sound over music. I am also able to adjust the volume as many times as I like within a scene. I can also edit shots smoothly with the help of transitions. I feel much more confident with Final Cut Pro X, and how to use it to my full advantage. I am able to use colour grading, and I have realised how it can completely change the tone of the scene. I can also light a shot using and by adjusting the exposure and whiteness levels. Whilst editing our opening sequence I learnt how to adjust the speed at which you can slow down a shot, e.g 50%, 25% or 10%. I found that using cross dissolves and fade in's very useful ad helped aid the fluidity of our piece. We also played around with several different font styles, but settled on the simple title sequence and simple credits. We found many different sound effects that were helpful to use in case we didn't quite catch a certain sound on set. We also downloaded sound effects off the internet, e.g a hospital beeping noise, and the sound of a hospital corridor which helped the ambiance of the scene.

3. Sound: At the start of my learning process I didn't know much about sound, how to use it or where to download it. However I have had more experience with it, and now I know where the best places are to download sound, or even how detach audio from a clip. I think sound is very important as a piece of music can evoke an emotion that sometimes is difficult to get across. We decided to layer many different sounds, and use 2 different pieces of music within our opening sequence. When I worked on my preliminary task I didn't put time and effort into choosing a song, I just four one I liked it added it to the film. However I now realise how important it is to find the right piece of music for different scenes within the film, and I now realise how big of a role they play in it.

4. Camera shots, angles, and movement: The first thing I learned, was about the 180 degree rule, matching action, shot reverse shot, and eye line match. I applied these things to my preliminary task, and I found them very useful and simple to do then and I brought this knowledge to my opening sequence as well. Within my opening sequence I was able to use the rules of third, and utilise and understand composition and what I should put/have within a frame. I feel that towards the end of this learning process I have become more knowledgeable of the different ways I can make up a shot, and how I truly enjoyed experimenting with different angles, and having to get into awkward positions to get the shot I wanted. I have also become more able to use a stedicam properly, and know how to manage and use things like a slider and shoulder rig in order to create different types of shots. I think that the outcome of all the shots are very visually pleasing because of using all these different things and creating new and different angles.