Title Sequence: Production

 Title Sequence: Production

Brief

What is manageable?

To manage my time for this project, I have created a time schedule that states the filming dates, reshoots and post-production tasks I need to complete in order to hit my deadline. 

- organise***


What are your initial thoughts?

My initial thoughts when reflecting upon this brief make me feel somewhat prepared and comfortable as I believe I have enough time to complete all of the requirements on time. I also feel I am prepared in terms of the post-production side of this project as I have practised visual designs and have editing experience in visual effects using After Effects, although I would like to practise some effects before I film. I am also aware of my restrictions and limitations when it comes to filming (coronavirus) and I will have to rethink of settings and locations that are accessible to me with the allowance of a camera. 

What will 'success' look like?

Success to me will be based upon the quality of my visuals, as I will be filming most of the scenes in the title sequence, I want the framing, lighting etc. to convey the tone, aesthetic and mood of my show well. My success will also be based off other people's feedback, e.g if they feel my title sequence conveys the time period accurately, does it look professional etc. Lastly, success for me will also be reached by being punctual with my schedule and hitting my deadline on time. 

Bullet point the research you've done?

The research I have completed so far for this project consists of the following:

Genre conventions in title sequences 

How to engage target, secondary and primary audiences // Demographics 

Visual effect types e.g graphics, overlays, transitions, font designs etc.

Colour grading 

Props & Costume designs 

Evaluate it, is it enough?

I personally believe I need to practise more visual effects and film some test footage before I delve into the filming side of my project, to do this I will spend the next few lessons watching tutorials on how to create specific visual effects that relate to my ideas. I will also go outside and shoot some test footage to help me practise my framing of shots and in post I will experiment with colour grading and play around with fonts types.

To conclude, I will make sure I develop my filming skills by shooting test footage and develop my post-production skills by practising colour grading and researching visual effects that I can feasibly create which work with my ideas. 

VFX Research - Tutorials 

(BELOW THESE TUTORIALS ARE EXAMPLES OF MY PRACTISE WORK)

Walk Transition effect - After Effects


For my title sequence I have planned to create a visual effect where a person/figure (faceless) is walking past the camera's view, and as they do this another shot is slowly revealed behind them as they exit the frame. To create this transition visual effect I watched Youtube tutorials and will practise this effect once I have shot my test footage. In order to create this effect I have the options of using After Effects or Premiere Pro as both programs have the masking tool needed to make this visual effect. 

The tutorial was very simple and straightforward and showed step by step how to make this effect, I have broken down these steps into bullet points (shown below) to help refresh my memory when I come to create the visual using my test footage. 

- Layer your walking person clip on top of your 'reveal' clip 
- Mask out the back position of the person as they walk using the pen tool
- Continue to mask by selecting 'Mask Path' and reposition your keyframes
- Feather your mask out 

(Make sure the two shots have the same colour grade otherwise it will look less smooth)

Walk Transition effect - Premiere Pro

The tutorial was very simple and easy to follow by showing me step by step how to make this effect using Premiere Pro, I have broken down these steps into bullet points (shown below). 
  • - Keyframe your first mask using the pen tool as the person makes a gap/line behind them e.g where your other clip will be revealed 
  • - Invert Mask
  • - Keyframe Mask Path, Feather and Expansion 
  • - Increase Feather and Expansion (smoothen mask out)
  • - Select 'forward button' on the Mask Path to go to the next keyframe 
  • - Reposition/Transform mask on each frame till your 
  • - Go to the first keyframe, move the mask off the screen in the beginning where the person isn't in frame
  • - Select your 'reveal' clip and position it below the walking person layer (makes it fills the mask)


After watching two tutorials and understanding how to create them using both After Effects and Premiere Pro, I have decided to edit the transition effect using After Effects as I found the tutorial that edited with this software easier to follow and I also prefer editing on After Effects than Premiere Pro. 

Ink Splatter effect - After Effects


For my title sequence, I am also going to create a ink splatter effect, to learn how to make this effect I watched the tutorial below and have broken each stage needed to make the visual into bullet point form in order for me to follow and easily re create it once I have shot my test footage. 

Overall I found this tutorial to be helpful. I felt it was a bit complex at times and could have been explained simpler but overall was quite easy to follow and I liked the final outcome. I only followed the first part of the tutorial as it focused on the style of ink splatter effect I want to create. 
  • - Pre compose the first layer of footage 
  • - Go to Colour correction on your ink layer 
  • - Make the colour correction graph across one square flat to the right at the bottom and across one     square flat to the left at the top
  • - Set blend mode to 'multiply' on ink layer 
  • - Go to time stretch, set to 40 on ink layer 
  • - Pre compose ink layer
  • - Reset band mode to multiply on ink layer
  • - Copy and paste ink layer, position above other ink layer
  • - Add layer, new solid (white) to ink composition
  • - Set second placeholder on ink layer to 'Luma inverted matte'
  • Go to ink composition, add black solid layer and fade it in to reveal the whole frame of the first layer

Rain effect - After Effects


For my title sequence, I am going to create a rain visual effect in the location shots that capture the setting, being Cambridge. To learn how to create this effect I watched the tutorial below that explained step-by-step how to add a rain/gloomy day effect to footage. 

Overall I found the tutorial to be way too fast and struggled to follow it at times due to this, however I was limited as there are few videos that explain how to make this effect. I thought the outcome of the visual was realistic and have come to the conclusion that I may need to rewatch the tutorial when adding this effect to my test footage. 

To make the tutorial easier to follow when I am adding the effect to my test footage, and for the actual post-production of my title sequence, I have wrote a brief step-by-step breakdown of the stages explained in the tutorial. 
  • - Import footage, add solid call it 'perspective reference' 
  • - Add grid effect to perspective reference layer
  • - Make perspective reference layer 3D
  • - Rotate so it looks as though it is sitting on the ground 
  • - Make a new solid 'particle ripples'
  • - Add 'particular' effect to particle ripples layer
  • - Select emitter settings - make all velocity settings '0'
  • - Increase particle amount (roughly 2000)
  • - Change emitter type to 'box'
  • - Change z side of the box to '0'
  • - Copy position from reference solid, paste it into position of emitter
  • - Transform size of emitter across grid, adjust to accurate size of rainfall 
  • - Open up particle settings,  change particle type to 'texture polygon'
  • - Change texture to 'ripple particle footage'
  • - Make sure time sampling is set to 'start at birth - play once'
  • - Scale up particles 
  • - Change rotation of particles to look realistic 
  • - Add solid composite to particle ripple layer, move into new composition 
  • - Hide particle ripple layer
  • - Add an adjustment layer to footage
  • - Add CC glass effect to the adjustment layer
  • - Change bump map source of the CC glass effect to the particle ripple composition 
  • - Reduce softness, height and displacement of CC glass effect
  • - Go to particular pre composition, copy particular layer, paste into main composition 
  • - Delete solid composite effect
  • - Go to particular effect and change the particular type to a sprite
  • - Change texture layer to raindrop particle, expand their size
  • - Scale emitter and move it forward
  • - Import rain footage (3 different types)
  • - Make the three rain layers 'screen' transfer modes
  • - Add mask to bottom of 'mist rain' footage, feather mask out
  • - Add mask  to 'medium rain' footage make it even lower to the previous mask, feather mask out 
  • - Precompose all rain layers and particle layer
  • - Set this composition to 'screen'
  • - Copy and paste this footage into the pre composition and add 'faint blur effect'
  • - Set blur to 'colour transfer mode'
  • - Add adjustment to main composition 
  • - Add a hue to that adjustment layer, experiment with blues/greens to give a 'gloomy day' effect

Animate Painting Effect - Photoshop & After Effects


For my title sequence I also want to create a visual effect that animates a painting. To learn how to make this effect I watched the tutorial shown above. Overall I found this tutorial to be easy and straightforward, I also have experience in using the puppet tool on After Effects which makes me feel more comfortable creating the visual effect as I have knowledge in this style of animation. 

The bullet points below list step-by-step how to make the visual effect, I have separated the stages of the process between the two programs to make it a clear instructions for me to follow when I create this effect in post-production. 

Photoshop

- Use the selection tool and select around the figure/person in the painting 
- Click mask on that same layer 
- Copy the original layer and repeat the masking effect on the background
- Select the spot healing brush tool and remove the person/figure on the background layer
- Apply layer mask to all masked figure/person layer
- Export (make sure all layers are separate pngs)

After Effects 

Import all images 
- Use pin tool to puppet the movement of the person layer
- Keyframe movement/positions using 'mesh rotation refinement'
- Use position to animate the person/figure as well

VFX Practise

VFX Walk transition 

To create this effect, I used the pen tool on After Effects and masked frame by frame behind my actor as he walked across the screen, I then added my second layer beneath the first one which filled in the mask. 


VFX - Rain

To create this effect I followed the tutorial I researched, however I found it to be overly complex and struggled to create it. In the end I decided to use a rain overlay and bend it into my test footage instead. Overall I thought the outcome of this test was okay, however I believe it looked slightly unrealistic. 

Presentation

Organise a presentation slot - Wednesday 18th November, 1:05pm


Choosing a Font


Production - Filming

Creating the 'old fashioned paper' - Opening shot

To make the opening shot of my title sequence look as though it is shot in a period piece, I decided to have the paper be stained with tea. To do create this effect I simply wet a teabag, dripped and spread it across the paper until the pigment came through, then left it to dry overnight. 

To capture a distant tinged lighting, as if the paper were by a candle I placed the paper by my bedside lamp. overall I like the way the shot turned out and thought it captured the mysterious 19th century aesthetic of my series.  

The shot on the right is a screenshot from the final close up of the poem used in the title sequence:



Double Lesson Plan - 27.11.20

My aim for the next two lessons is to shoot the opening shot of my title sequence, add it to my footage folder, then I want to begin editing my footage and experimenting with colour grades on After Effects. 

Filming - Location shots and Graveyard

Camera type: iPhone 10

For this project I chose to film it on my iPhone as I felt the camera quality was good and I also felt I could Crete more movement in my shots instead of using a Canon Camera or Tripod. 

After I shot the close up of the poem, I then over the course of the next few days/nights filmed lots of footage of Cambridge. I experimented with shot types and locations, changing from both night time settings to day time settings and exploring old 19th century streets to fit the time period of my series. I also shot at a graveyard, I filmed many different types fo graves and collected lots of footage to make sure I could give myself more footage to edit with in post-production.

The images below are some stills of footage I shot around Cambridge:



 

One of the first shots I needed to film was the 'walking transition' shot. To film this I needed an actor and asked my father if he could act by walking past the camera in the shot, in order for me to then mask and create a smooth transition between shots in post-production. In the end I found a nice location with 18th century houses in a row and filmed a pan shot from the sky, downwards to a wide frame and then had my actor walk past the camera. Overall this shot was quite easy to make, however there were many people walking past and I had to re-shoot the scene quite a few times. 

Screenshot of 'walk transition' shot:


Painting

Another piece of footage I needed for my title sequence was an image of a painting. To do this I searched '19th century gothic paintings' and looked through many images. In the end I decided to use the image shown below as I thought this painting would be quite easy to animate and it also has a lot of symbolism in terms fo religion, duality and conflict which are all common themes in my series and would work well in symbolising my title sequence. 


Lastly, I needed to film a mid shot of my 'protagonist' in 19th century attire. I was fortunate enough to be lent an old fashioned tie from my friend and used it in the scene, I also wore with it a white shirt that I felt fitted the period clothing style. This shot was easy to create as I shot myself in the costume and sat still in a mid frame. Overall I feel the outcome of this shot was quite good and thought it depicted the dark, mysterious aesthetic of my series. 

Screenshot of mid frame protagonist shot:


Pre-production Documents

Risk Assessment 


Location Recce


Shot List

Post-Production - Editing

After I collected all my footage for my title sequence, I began to edit my scenes in a program known as After Effects. This program allowed me to add my own colouring and visual effects. The editing process of my title sequence was quite challenging, the first challenge I faced was selecting the scenes and how to structure them. I loosely based the structure of my title sequences scenes on my storyboard but as I had new footage I wanted to experiment with the order of my shots. 

I also imported the audio/music for my title sequence, layered it beneath all my footage and cut the shots in time with the music and faded the audio output towards the end of the final shot.

Creating the Visual Effects

Once I had cut up the scenes, I began to create my visual effects. The first visual effect I created was the ink splatter. To create this I downloaded and imported a 'ink splatter' overlay from youtube. I then put the ink splatter footage on top of my opening shot and selected 'blending options' then 'screen' to make the opening shot be revealed inside the ink splatter. Overall creating this visual effect was quite easy and as I had already practised two to create this effect it made me feel more comfortable creating it. 


The next visual effect I wanted to create was the walk transition effect. To do this I masked out the left background of my 'walking shot' as my actor walked past, then I feathered the mask to '10' in order for the mask to smoothen it out. Once I finished the masking I then added a shot of the graveyard beneath that layer and the effect was complete. Overall I thought this was the best visual effect I created and worked as a smooth transition between scenes without being too obvious.


The next visual effect I wanted to create was rain effect. To create this I screen recorded a 'rain overlay' and imported into After Effects. I then layered this rain footage on top of a shot of a gothic spiral grave. Next I selected 'blending mode' then 'screen' and changed the opacity to '70 percent in order for the rain to look less harsh and realistic. Lastly for this effect I added a 'sharpen' layer to enhance the rain drops and the effect was complete. Overall I thought this effect was quite good, I do believe the rain overlay could have been better quality, however there was a milted amount of copyright free rain overlays to choose from on youtube. 


The last visual effect I needed to create was the animated painting. To do this I used the 'puppet tool' on After effect, added pin points on the different parts of the painting. I then key-framed the different points to make the painting look as though it were moving. Overall I thought this visual effect turned out quite poor, I thought the snake looked realistic however I struggled to make the male character in the painting look as though he was moving. 


Adding font and Creating the colouring

After I completed my visual effects, I then needed to add credits to my title sequence using the 'Gothic London' font I chose previously and also needed to create a colour grade. 

As I added credits to my scenes, I struggled to make the colour of my font consistent as in certain scenes they were more visible than others. In the end I decided to go for a black coloured font in certain scenes and white in the others, this allowed me to keep the same font while also making the credits visible for the audience to read. 


To create the colouring of my title sequence I used an effect called 'Lumetri Colour'. I added this effect to each of my scenes and used green/blueish tones, however the shots didn't flow into one another due to the lighting being different. I then changed the white balance to see if it made the shots flow better and it did not work.


 In the end, to resolve this issue I added an adjustment layer across all my footage and added a 'black and white' colouring preset to my which worked well and made the shots transition smoothly between one another while also enhancing the dark tone and atmosphere of the show. 


Finishing Details

After I cut my scenes, added visual effects, colour grade and font, I then tweaked some scenes and added small blur effects and fades between the shots to make them look more visually pleasing and have them transition into one another more smoothly. To create the blur effect I added 'Gaussian Blur' to my shots and changed the amount of the blur using keyframes. To create the fade in shots I simply layered the shots and key-framed the opacity of the first shot from 0% to 100%. 

 

Draft One - Title Sequence

Overall I quite like the outcome of my title sequence as I felt it captured the period of my series well while also creating a mysterious and eery atmosphere. Creating this title sequence has taught me that planning and practising are vital and I know for next time that I should keep consistent lighting and film in one time of day, in order to make sure one style and colour of font works on all the footage. 


Feedback - Teacher

- Relate visuals to the narrative, make sure each shot has a purpose
- Be less vague, film shots that hint towards the character and themes etc.

Reflecting upon my feedback, I believe it is fair and agree that I should solidify my narrative through my visuals and make sure each one has a purpose in conveying the series to this audience, as I feel I focused too much on the aesthetic. 

To improve upon my title sequence using my feedback, I will write out a rough synopsis of the first episode in my series and I will film new shots that are specific to the themes and scenarios raised within the narrative to make sure my title sequence conveys my narrative clearly using sym

Adapting plot

Series:  Long Form Narrative

Storyline:

Vincent (protagonist) is melancholic, poor and reserved person. Vincent gets a scholarship in English Literature at Cambridge University. One drunken night he gets in a fight with a stranger and accidentally murders them. We witness Vincent fall into a rabbit hole full of lies and see him question each moral as he tries to cover up the murder. All of which reveals just the depths he is willing to go in order to keep up his reputation. 

Episode one:

The year 1918 appears on screen, we cut to Vincent (protagonist) opening a letter from Cambridge University, declaring he has been accepted onto the scholarship programme. Vincent shares celebratory drinks with his father and later that night wonders alone stumbling through the city streets (Cambridge). Once he arrives home he writes a personal poem which subtly hints toward his loneliness and dependancy upon alcohol. 

The year 1919 'present day' appears on screen, we are now seeing Vincent on the college grounds of Cambridge University. The day goes on and we see Vincent attend classes, it is evident his loneliness is very much present and he isolates himself in the library. Towards the evening he goes to his dorm room and pulls a bottle of whiskey from under his bed. Leaving college grounds he quickly downs the drink till it is empty. Disorientated and drunk, Vincent mistakes an elder man for his Uncle and verbally harasses him. Both Vincent and the elder man become more aggressive and fight each other. Vincent continues to beat him until he stops breathing, he looks around in terror realising what he has done, the episode ends. 

Visuals

- shot - poetry 
- shot - setting/mysterious figure
- shot - gothic church 
- add shot - money
- add shot - drips of blood
- add shot - wine poured
- shot - grave
- add shot - bloody hands 
- shot - cambridge doors 
- shot - animation 

The red highlighted shots I am going to film and edit into my title sequence. I wanted to use imagery of blood to symbolise to the audience the murder that occurs in the narrative, the bloody hands will reference the protagonist's guiltiness. The shot of money will symbolise the new found wealth that comes to the protagonist through their scholarship and how the money will soon shift to becoming Vincent's weapon of bribery to silence witnesses. The shot of wine will hint towards Vincent's alcoholism and will fade in through the shot of splattered blood to show that his intoxication is what lead to the murder. 

Reshooting new visuals

Blood visuals 

The first new visuals I wanted to film were the blood shots as they would most likely take the most time to film. I did not have any fake blood and attempted to make my own using ketchup and soy sauce. In the end, I disliked the shots I took and thought the blood looked unrealistic so I decided to scrap the blood visuals and thought I would incorporate the visuals of blood using an overlay. 

Images of shots and making the 'blood'
 
 

Money and blood overlay visual 

For the money shot I incorporate the blood concept by having a 'blood in water' overlay and made the money shot be inside of the blood. To create this idea I imported the the blood overlay onto my after effects composition, then layered the overlay above the money shot and selected blending mode - difference. As this looked slightly off in terms of colouring, I layered an adjustment layer over these two clips and added the 'lumetri colour' effect to edit the exposure, white balance etc. until I was satisfied with the outcome. Overall I thought this visual worked really well and conveyed the narrative well by symbolising the term 'blood money' visually. 

Mid Close up shot and Blood water overlay 




Blending the overlay, adjusting the colouring & adding text


Wine visual 

The wine visual was the easiest to create out of them all. I shot a close up with the wine glass in the left corner, this was to make it seem as though the glass of wine was almost hidden and nearly 'out of sight' in terms of the audience's perspective. This was on purpose to symbolise the protagonist's secretive behaviour that comes with alcoholism. The only effects I added to this shot in post-production was 'lumetri colour' to enhance the shadows/contrast. 

Harvard Reference - Song/Audio

Ludovico Einaudi (2020). Choroshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Wb9OrgRVc

Final Cut - Title Sequence


Evaluation

At the start you said what success would look like to you – were you successful (explain)? 

At the start of this project my idea of success was hitting my deadline and making sure my title sequence conveyed the period and dark aesthetic of my series. Reflecting upon this I feel I did achieve success as I was organised in my planning and hit my deadline whilst also reflecting the themes, aesthetic and period of my series through my colour grading, lighting, font and props.

My title sequence was also successful in terms of development and progression as I constantly received feedback from peers and mentors to improve upon my shots and transitions. 

What was the hardest part? 

The hardest part about creating this title sequence was making the visuals flow into one another. In the beginning of post-production when I cut and ordered my scenes I struggled to make them smoothly work with one another. To try overcome this issue I added my visual effects in hope that it would create more fluidity between the scenes, but once I completed the effects the shots as a whole did not work together as they lacked in tone or atmosphere. 

In the end I decided to colour grade my footage to adjust the white balance and enhance the shadows/vignette to give the title sequence a more ominous and period piece aesthetic. I also added a black and white effect which improved the flow of the visuals immensely as it made each shot look  gothic, which fits the dark academia tone I wanted to create. After adding this colouring I thought my title sequence looked more like a 19th century period piece and helped give my title sequence a more sophisticated and professional look.   

One of the hardest parts of this project was also making sure my visuals had relevance in reflecting the narrative of the series to my target audience. The first draft of my title sequence had some shots that lacked in importance and instead acted as fillers. To improve upon this and make sure each visual was relevant to the plot I redrafted my storyline. This helped me vastly as I felt more confident in my visuals. To develop my title sequence even more and expand upon my storyline through symbolism, I filmed new shots that were reflective of my narrative, this helped me convey more of the key themes and aesthetic of my series to my target audience. 

What was the most enjoyable part? 

The best part of this project was developing the narrative and filming, this is because I thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating initial ideas through research and then seeing them evolve and come to life in filming. I particularly liked coming up with the narrative and fleshing it out as I went along in post-production, I enjoyed this because of the creative freedom it gave me and liked how I could come up with my own authentic plot for my series. 

I also really liked colour grading my footage as I found it to be helpful when developing my post-production skills, especially as I had to capture and convey a certain period using my own colour grade. 

How was looking at other title sequences useful? 

I found looking at other title sequences quite useful as it helped me understand how to structure a title sequence and I learnt that symbolism and subtly are key when attracting your target audience. I also found that by watching other title sequences, I became inspired by their attention to detail e.g having the font be representative of the genre/period. I used this technique in my own title sequence and made sure my font, lighting, effect etc. all had an importance to reflecting the narrative of my series without giving too much away. 

However, I did find watching title sequences did not help me when in pre-production, this is because I struggled to find a significant style of title sequence that I was most drawn to as there were such a variety of ways in which I could portray my story e.g using a map, using abstract graphics etc. and it made me feel lost when deciding which direction I want to take with my title sequence. 

In the end, I found my title sequence style by watching period piece title sequences and liked how they used simplistic shots that incorporated subtle references to the themes and characters within their show. I also liked how in most of the period drama title sequences there was dim lighting and gothic architecture, this heavily inspired me as I knew I could feasibly create a similar aesthetic and tone in my visuals while also making it personal to my series. 

How hard was planning your work to meet the deadline? 

Planning to meet my deadline was quite hard as near the end of the project I had to come up with new shot ideas to add to my title sequence which had to relate to the narrative, whilst also filming in a limited amount of time. In the end I completed the reshoots although it was quite stressful and slightly rushed because I was near the deadline and had to finish post-production too. 

Another challenge I faced in terms of hitting deadlines was making sure I added all my progress onto my blog after each lesson and documenting the various stages of the whole production process. I struggled with this as each part of the project became overwhelmingly complex with the issues I faced e.g unusable shots, limitations on filming locations etc. and it was hard to keep track of the different elements that were successful and unsuccessful in each lesson. To learn and improve this issue for next time, I will make sure I note down the 'positives and negatives' in brief note forms, then expand upon them when I discuss the creative process on my blog. 

What changes to your workflow could you make in future projects to improve your outcome? 

To improve upon my workflow, I will make sure I create a more detailed schedule that covers the time frame of each lesson and details the specific tasks I need to complete. This is because my schedules for this project lacked in explanation and was too vague, which made it harder to follow and use as a guidance/tick box for each task. 

I will also improve upon my workflow by giving myself more time for failures and progression as I felt that my schedule limited me because I only planned for 'success' and therefore gave myself no time to reshoot and develop my ideas in the depth. 

How could you improve your presentation skills (get feedback if you haven’t yet)? 

I believe I could improve upon my presentation skills by being more clear and simple in my explanations as I tend to ramble on and cover details that aren't needed when pitching my project and ideas. One of the ways in which I will practise simplifying my presentation is by watching youtube videos of people pithing their ideas and learn their tips on how to summarise notes into informative clear points.

Who would you say is the target audience for your title sequence (consider: age range, gender, interests)?

Age: 15 plus, this is because my title sequence references mature themes in the visuals and is suited to viewers who are older due to its gothic and period aesthetic, as this is more appealing to viewers  of an older generation. The title sequence is also targeted to those who are 15 plus as the topics conveyed in the imagery are too explicit for younger viewers. 

Gender: All genders, this is because the title sequence is not suited to a particular gender, although the main characters is male the narrative is accessible for all genders because it is more suited to the viewers interests. 

Interests: Literature, poetry, dark academia and period dramas. This is because the title sequence has visuals which include literature and poetry, which attracts audiences who enjoy reading poetic literature. The dark academic and period drama interests of my audience go hand in hand as my title sequence relies heavily on these two aesthetic elements, which attracts viewers who enjoy and watch series/films that capture the same mysterious and gothic vibe/atmosphere. 

When we’re talking about audience theory is there a theory that you could relate to your own title sequence, perhaps in terms of how you’d hope an audience responds, or whether you could bring in an element of representation? 

The media theory that reflects the outcome I want my title sequence to have upon my audience is the 'consumption theory'. The consumption theory means the audience are defined by what they consume e.g if the viewer enjoys period drama genre, they fit directly into that category. I hope my audience responds to my title sequence by finding relation in the aesthetic, genre and style of the show whilst also seeing themselves in the character's struggle. 

For example, in the scenes that capture Cambridge's gothic architecture, the consumption theory relates to my audience as certain viewers will be attracted to the visuals because they are defined by the same location in which they and the show inhabit. Another way in which the consumption theory applies to my title sequence is the opening visual of the poetry, this defines certain audience members as they may write, study or read poetry/literature.

In terms of representation, I could highlight issues of racial injustice and the struggle of gender roles within my series as it is set in the early 19th century when these issues were hugely evident within society. For future projects I would like to highlight more social issues in my narrative and have more representation.

How successful were you at evidencing your progression and work as you went along? 

Overall, I believe I was quite successful in evidencing my progression, this is shown through my breakdown of the production processes and within each stage I described in detail the development and changes I made to my project, which gave evidence to show how I constantly evolved the visuals and storyline. 

However, next time I will include lesson reviews to help me keep track of each task I completed in the lessons to explain in even more depth of the different progressions I made within each task and what I need to complete for future lessons. This will also help me be ore organised as I will be able to reference and recall each lesson to detail the development of my work.

Which elements of what you did might be useful to you in your FMP?

One of the elements within my title sequence that will be useful when starting my FMP is creating a more in depth and detailed schedule to ensure I make time for reshoots and improvements. Another elements from the title sequence that could be useful when creating my FMP is making sure I test out effects/block scenes etc. to prepare myself for the actual production process and gather as much test footage as possible to be fully prepared when delving into filming. 

Lastly, making sure I review my work and receive feedback from both peers and mentors is a huge important element I learnt from this project that applies to my FMP. This is because I need to ensure that I reflect upon my work from someone else's perspective as they can help me adapt my storyline to make it clearer to my target audience, and gathering more than one opinion will allow me to retain a full 360 scope of my work and I can combine all their feedback and improve my project from actual active audience members. 


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