How to Lose a Zombie in 10 Days Evaluation

TV Credits Evaluationby Sam Stratford

Monday, 16 April 2012

Introduction

This presentation will be containing and explaining all of the aspects that are covered inside my TV credit sequence ‘How to Lose a Zombie in 1o Days’. Our brief was to create a UK TV credit sequence, which could be aired on channels such as E4 or BBC3, targeting younger viewers from the ages 18-25.

We were hoping for quite a young and intricate storyline for our programme and I feel that we achieved this and if the series would be put forwards that it would become successful in some mannerism.


Comparison with real media products

My 9 Key frames from my TV credit sequence.


Key Frame 1

Location: Using areas inside and outside of the college, caused us to wonder what would happen if we had gone

further out of the college location, but we are still pleased with how the footage has turned out .


Key Frame 2

Framing of characters: We framed each scene so that the character wasn’t just in the center of the frame but so that they

would be fitting in to somewhere they know.


Key Frame 3

Costume: To cope with the amount of work that was being done in a small time frame we split the drawing and costume design

between us so that we could finish in time, I designed Alex’s costume and Chloe designed Jess’s, but we had decided for

people for characters to wear there own clothes, for authenticity.


Key Frame 4

Narrative: We didn’t have any narrative in the credit sequence, therefore I can’t explain anything about it however the font that we used was chosen in one of the production meetings that we

held, we talked over many different fonts but finally chose Planet Benson Two for the text credits.


Key Frame 5

Type of action: ‘How to Lose a Zombie in 10 Days’ will contain, suspense, drama and a small proportion of action. Trying to

target the younger audience, by having the programme contain the types of genres that they find interesting.



How to Lose a Zombie in 10 days was based on the film, ‘How to Lose a guy in 10 days’. We also used some of the concept from the film Zombieland, mainly the whole idea of having rules and a plan of what to do with the zombie, to get rid of it. By also adding in a story behind the rules, and why the teens follow them to make sure they stay alive along with the rest of the Human Race.



During the processes of creating our TV series we did begin to look at the opening titles of Juno, in which the end we decided not to go ahead with attempting, as 1, the timeframe we had was much shorter than needed. Even using a video tutorial of a simplified version of how the effect was created, it wasn’t going to give us enough time to finish with our lack of experience with the programme Adobe After Effects.


Construction of How to Lose a Zombie

I enjoyed the challenge of having to put together pieces of footage into one string of clips to make up the TV credit sequence. I found that moving and editing the Final Cut filters to prove the most challenging but at the same time the most fun, I really enjoyed playing with the different levels and getting them just right to use in the product.

I found hardest waiting for the rendering in Final Cut, this really slowed down the work flow, after having to stop after every piece of video/ audio would have to be rendered.


Construction of How to Lose a Zombie

I faced problems such as, the amount of shakiness on the footage leading up and away from the college. Firstly we tried to deal with this by using a tripod dolly to wheel along the camera however this didn’t appear to have much effect outside where the ground is quite bumpy and uneven. Therefore I then went about trying to stabilise the footage in Final Cut.


Construction of How to lose a Zombie

Working in a group had strengths and weaknesses, we both played to our strengths and attempted to conquer our weaknesses, Chloe stated she couldn’t draw but still managed to hand in some really great work for the project and outside it as well.

We added in a filter over the top of the footage to burn into the edges of the screen, to create a darker tone to the credit sequence.

Without With


Legal and Ethical considerations

All of the material used in the production of the TV credits was 100% copyright free. Before using a piece of music, or any particular catch phrase we may of wanted to use for the character we researched into if it would be allowed to be used for the programme.

Here is a link to the Creative Commons UK site: http://www.creativecommons.org.uk/

There currently isn’t any criminal, sexual or drug related footage contained in the TV credits, neither will there be an violence or content which encourages poor display of language or nudity.


http://www.creativecommons.org.uk

http://www.creativecommons.org.uk

Skills development in programmes used

I have developed my skills in multiple programmes, mainly in Final Cut Express, whereby I have managed to manipulate text in Photoshop and then import it into Final Cut, move it and cause it to fade in and out at the exact moment that I wanted it to. Then involving the use of filters I have expanded my knowledge of the programme and how that the filters can be brightened, darkened, the opacity can be changed and the affect of them varied.


Skills development in programmes used

Also I developed more of an understanding of how to manage my time and become more organised when creating a larger project such as the TV credits opening. To make sure that I became proficient enough in organising myself, I took on responsibilities that required me to take charge at some points in the project and also to have to listen to what Chloe wanted to add and then contribute to the construction of the project.


Standard of the Final Product

Looking back at our task brief ‘To create a UK TV credit sequence titles opening between 40-90seconds long’. The plan was to have the programme put forwards to either E4 or BBC3, both channels which specialise in younger TV programmes, e.g. Family Guy, Russell Howard’s Good News and the replay of old Doctor Who episodes.

I feel that our product suits to the briefing and could be used as a programme on either BBC3 or E4.


Standard of the Final Product

In creating my Final Product of the TV credit sequence I have found that it has varied slightly to the original idea, however it hasn’t affected the overall outcome of the final product.

I feel that technically the product it strongest at the slide transitions and music suspense. Mainly because the most time was spent on these sections, and the music was individually created by Chloe and then inputted at the end and tweaked with the transitions. The weakest part of the final product is the actual text credits, we were hoping to create our own font and to the use it to type the credits and have them move across the screen into their positions,however we didn’t have enough time and therefore just left it out and sued a man made font instead.


Conclusion

This concludes my evaluation of my Final Product ‘How to Lose a Zombie in 10 Days’, overall I feel extremely pleased with how it has turned out. I feel that with more time it could be vastly improved but even then I think that a lot of the base to the ideas are there and that they just need to be expanded on, but if I was to do more to the project I would film some more cut-aways and at in extra parts of footage. The final product had been smoothed out so I would create more effects and also try to dress up some of the scenes with more special effects.


Business

How to Lose a Zombie in 10 Days Evaluation