A Reflection of my work in AS

The creativity of our preliminary task was quite successful. Our task was based on an interrogation scene which there would be random flashbacks of the crime that they have committed and then the two characters inside the interrogation room.  I though our idea was quite original because compared to our classmates ideas it was very different. Plus at the time we were working in a group of three so when it came to combining our ideas we picked the best things from each of our ideas and merged them together to be able to create the perfect scenario.

How this improved our opening sequence was firstly we followed the same way we exchanged ideas the first time, my partner and I work very well together and when coming up with ideas we tend to both pitch our idea to each other and then take the best part from each of ideas and merge them together to create our BSR.

Research and Planning

Research and planning was simple and allowed me to be able to have a plan of what everything I wanted to do was and acted as a guide to me when filming. Research included different camera/shot types and how to use them. Research allowed me later on to be able to use the different camera/shot types more confidently and use them in the correct way.


This helped me improve when it came to my BSR because it allowed me to have some experience of planning and I knew the worth of research and planning and how much it can help you when it comes to production.

Post-Production used last year

iMovie - This was used during post-production. This program was used because it was the best thing to be able to edit our opening sequence on. Having used iMovie before from previous projects I had gathered up a good understanding on how to use it but this time we were using a newer version of iMovie but things were practically the same for me so I didn't notice a huge difference. Using this programme it allows you to do all that you need to do and because we are creating something which is BSR themed the editing did not have to be something that was very fancy so all we basically needed to know was how to cut. Using iMovie again allowed me to increase my experience that I already have with it. It has made me become more confident with the software and I can now use the new iMovie just as well as the old one.

Live type - This was used during post-production. This was used to be able to create our credits. Using this piece programme at first I found hard to use with all different options on how to use different things I was very confused in the beginning. But over time after being taught I started to learn how to use it properly.  Using this programme rather than other ones helped our graphics turn out cleaner and allowed us to be able to experiment and have more options when it came to designing graphics. Live type being a new programme to use I have developed my skill in this programme, especially when it comes to designing and typography I have improved.

Final Cut - This was used during post-production. We used this to edit some of our videos together and out opening sequence. When using this it allowed us to do some things which we were limited to do using iMovie, although we found the programme complicated and tricky to use at times by using it, it has made out videos better. Again this being a new programme that I have used it has helped develop my editing skills being able to do new things with my video making them look better.

Conventions applied to my work

Film four usually produces movies which are British Social Realism and deal with topics which people in the UK can relate 

to. Working with very low budgets they try to create the most realistic type of films which are not far-fetched and stick the 

codes and conventions of BSR.

When it came to planning our idea we wanted to come up with something which was not common in BSR films and this was 

aiming it towards a more middle class audience. When planning all of our ideas we came up with loads of good ideas but 

non that specifically matched a British social realism film. We then picked an idea that matched British Social Realism the 

most and decided to expand on it developing our idea. Taking inspiration from loads of other successful British Social 

Realism films we tried to involve it into our idea.

After we had finalized our idea we then started to develop on the characters making each of them relatable in a certain 

way all having problems that people every day go through. Our developed idea change after many discussions with my 

partner we decided to make the main character Asian following the stereotypical representations of Asian male abuse in 

our opening sequence. We took inspiration from other British Social Realism films such as ‘Looking For Eric’ and ‘This Is 

England’.

During pre–production we started to create our graphics and titles, we aimed to create something that would be used in 

Film4 not going to overboard sticking to the typical conventions. We tested many different fonts till we came to a 

conclusion on which one to use, we used dafont.com to be choose a font because the font which were already downloaded 

on the programme we were using did not match to what we wanted and felt like it didn't really relate to our sequence at 

all.

Thinking about other film4 films when creating our narrative we watched and studied a lot of other film four films till we 

came to what we wanted ours to be, we wanted our idea to be original and something which has not really been done 

before.

Here are some more conventions shown in my work last year:

This shot shows the stress of work that it built up on our character we see him in an office with the continuance of folders 

pilling up with him not being able to keep up, this relates to our social group by firstly them being able to understand what 

are character is going through but also being able to understand that sometimes it is just too much work for one person to 

handle alone and the stress created at work will then have an effect on his home life. The images help show how established 

he is as a person firstly by costume and setting we are shown how he has his own office helping to show his status and that 

he is quite high up job wise to have his own office. The modern office also helps fit with our audience because it doesn't look 

out of date and looks like a real work place office. The editing that was used here was a cross dissolve this helped to show 

the passing of time because it is what we wanted to show.

The editing we used here was firstly we 

created continuity within the male character 

picking up a bottle and placing from the table 

and taking it upstairs. We wanted the bottle

to be the focus because its where the 

continuity is placed on. Having it filmed at 

two different angles shows it at two different 

view points and also allows to show more of 

the house and where he lives. 

The mise-en-scene between both scenes contrast and show a big difference. The colour scheme and set up show the change 

of scene and help show two different moods. The first scene shows a very grey and dull part of the sequence help showing 

the mood that our character is in . The bright colours of the folders help being emphasis to them, making them the focal 

point of our shot. The second scene follows the colour scheme of red, it helps to represent and create a passionate and 

romantic scene between to characters but it corrupted when our male character walks in in all black takes the alcohol and 

walks straight upstairs.

Here we filmed continuity we see this here through her walking through the door and entering the kitchen and then cut to her walking towards the sink showing her from another angle. The first picture shows a long shot to help

show the whole scene and environment. Then the second image is an mid-shot and it helps shows a new shot and a closer view of her and what she is carrying. The last shot is a mid shot is well and shows the exact same thing as the first but from another angle. The continuity shown here flows really well when played due to the tight editing. The sound at this point really starts to build up helping creating tension leading to the climax where we then see her cry at the end of our sequence because she cannot take it any more.

The mise-en-scene in these three shots all use artificial lighting from the 

lamps on the wall and no extra light was used in this shot, the lack of lighting 

and the slightly dull surroundings help to show the mood of the character and

also sets the scene. If everything was really bright it wouldn't really fit in with 

the scene and would take away from the mood created. 

The typography created was very simple and we placed it along the corners 

and sides of the screen, by placing them in these ways it allows the audience 

to be able to focus on the movement on screen but also the movement of the 

credits so it is not in the way of what is going on.

This shot shows a romantic scene and helps create a mood which is then crushed by our male character.

In this shot we see a close up of our main female character. The close up helps to show the emotion of our character and helps to show her feelings. At this point in the sequence we are shown her finally breaking down, after everything that she has been through we see her being breaking down crying, due to the neglect from her husband and earlier as we see her trying to make an effort for him, making dinner etc. He completely ignores her. The character herself in this shot is very dark and the surrounding is very bright helping to show a contrast.

 In this shot we see a close up/mid shot of our main female character. We see her resulting to alcohol helping to show the theme of alcohol, this shot is quite dark which helps relate to the mood created also the fact that she is picking between the two shows the range of alcohol available to her and also the fact that she is choosing helps to show how she doesn’t really drink and she has to read and see what’s in it etc. because she doesn’t usually drink.

In this shot we see our main male character entering his car, 

the dull shot shows him on his way home from work, the 

anchorage of the car helps to show his wealth and how he 

does drive a Mercedes and the car helps show the power he 

has and almost represents him as a person. His dark costume 

helps represent his character by the showing the evil in him. 

Also you get to see a bit of the environment showing the

houses and what type of neighborhood he lives in showing 

middle class housing.