Holly Fairbairn

Describe a range of creative decisions that you made in postproduction and how these decisions made a diff erence to the fi nal
outcomes. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show
how these skills developed over time.
(25 marks) June 2012
Post-production is the process after filming is complete where you are able to
edit raw footage to create the final product. Creativity is a huge aspect of this as
it is the act of turning a new and imaginative idea into reality and a lot of this is
achievable in the post-production stage through the art of visual effects, sound
and titles which may be hard to create in the filming stage. My skills in both
creativity and post-production have developed through the years from my Btec
production and AS preliminary to my AS opening sequence and final my A2
teaser trailer and the accompanying ancillary tasks.
Before my AS course, I had experimented with my creativity through the creation
of collages and stories as well as coming up with the ideas for my Btec horror
trailer. However as I was new to the subject, my creativity was minimum as I was
focusing more on the technical aspects in the post-production area. Due to my
limited past experience, I was able to use the basic functions of adobe-premier
effectively to cut down my footage in a way that would create suspense as well
as colour grading some of it to fit in with the overall tone that my group were
trying to create for the genre.
My skills improved slightly with my preliminary task as my group had to
compose the entire production ourselves so there were no conventions to follow,
meaning that the entire thing was creative as we had to write the entire script
and edit the entire sequence with only a brief to aid us. This creativity was shown
through our post production as the second half after our protagonist finds out he
is terminally ill, has been graded into black and white to connote the depression
that he was feeling with the bad news. This was paired with a sorrowful song to
create within the audience by reflecting the feelings that the character on screen
was showing. However, the transition into the greyscale was choppy and instant
rather than smooth showing that my skills could be more refined which I could
achieve through looking more closely and experimenting with the other tools
available on adobe premiere to see how I could make this smoother. This was
similar in the use of sound as the song just began rather than fading in with the
scene, this could have been because I was unaware of how to make the music
fade in, similarly with the colour grading. Overall, I think that despite the
execution being poor, I believe that the creative decision to colour grade the
footage and piece it together in the way that I did, created the desired tone to
the sequence in the fact that the audience were meant to feel sorry for the
protagonist. This was shown as successful as when the video was shown to my
peers, many said they felt emotional watching it as they connected with the
character and the use of colour and sound created the sorrowful effect we were
aiming to portray.
My skills in both creativity and post-production, improved through my AS
production where I created an opening sequence to a thriller film. Now that I had

Holly Fairbairn
genre conventions to base my production on, I was able to make creative
decisions to challenge some of the conventions that I had been presented with.
Most of these were challenged through the production stage but some were also
challenged in post-production. Now that I had a better understanding of the
editing software, I was able to smoothly insert my colour grading which I used to
create a sense of foreboding as well as verisimilitude through the editing of the
high key lighting, changing it to slightly more low-key whilst outside as well as
the highlighting of the blood on Ravens hands which fits in with the classical
stage of the genre suggested by Metz as blood is a conventional aspect of the
Thriller genre and by highlighting this in the post-production stage, I am making
it clear what genre my production belongs in and which stage of the
development it is in. Another creative decision I made in my AS production was
the use of dip to white transitions in rapid formation during the scene with Raven
and Sienna in the ally to show Raven losing bits of her memory. However, this
could have been better executed as it seems quite choppy, but it does get across
my desired effect as it shows lack of footage and in relation, lack of recall. Along
with this, the way that I cut my footage to the background music was also a
creative decision as it gave the whole sequence pace that fit in with both the
genre and the product type. However, the transitions I used between scenes
were very basic with just dip to black used where I could have been more
creative by using film dissolves or looking at the other options available but
due to my lack of confidence in the software, I stuck to the basic transition option
as it also fit in with my desired genre. My audience feedback revealed that they
enjoyed the sense of enigma that my product portrayed through the way that the
footage was cut together and the combination of the editing and sound, they
were also able to identify the genre showing that although I did include some
creativity, the product was still recognisable in the sense that it was a Thriller
which in itself suggests that my creativity could have been more prominent.
My skills greatly improved in my A2 course as not only did I gain confidence in
the software I was using but I also branched out into using other programmes
such as Photoshop and after effects. I was more creative this year as I decided to
challenge a lot more conventions, especially in the fact that a lot of the footage
that I decided to use was filmed hand-held which isnt conventional and by
selecting this footage in the post-production stage not only was it a creative
decision but it appealed to my target audience because of the influential nature
of vloggers and online communities. I was also more conventional in the use of
transitions, especially as by using film dissolve as well as dip to black, the entire
production looked more professional. As well as using premiere, I branched out
and decided to experiment with adobe after effects to create the sparkle
transition that I found was conventional to my genre (Teen Drama) but was
something that isnt necessarily thought about in terms of transitions, previously
I did not have the confidence to experiment with this programme but to refine
my post production skills, I decided to experiment, even if it didnt make the final
draft. This was similar for the heart monitor effect I created to act as a transition.
Although not all of my efforts made the final draft, by experimenting with the
new software, I also experimented more with premiere. Another decision in my

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post production was to cut my footage to the music even though it got fast
paced, this seemed to appeal to my target audience as it created a sense of
anticipation due to the fast pace and an indexical meaning (as suggested by
Pierce) of adrenaline and excitement which is one purpose of my production,
showing that my decisions had a positive impact on my final production,
especially when my audience stated that they wanted to watch the rest of the
film. I once again adjusted the colour grading of my production by making the
footage slightly brighter but keeping it looking realistic and creating
verisimilitude due to my chosen genre. By keeping the verisimilitude, I
challenged Baudrillards hyper-reality theory as Teen Dramas are based off of real
life and by showing that Hayley was killed/ injured in the car crash eliminates the
idea that the world is perfect and action like drink driving dont have
consequences. This was a creative decision in itself as most films brush over
elements like this and try to interpret the world in a way that there are no
consequences for certain behaviours.
My skills in creativity further improved with the use of Photoshop in my ancillary
tasks as I colour graded the image of Cara, Wesley and Hayley so that Hayley
was black and white to symbolise that she was no longer with them, by doing
this, I created a sense of enigma between the main production and the poster as
those that saw the poster wanted to watch the product to find out what
happened. This fits in with Barthes Enigma Code so by including these creative
aspects, I created a sense of mystery and anticipation for my audience.
In conclusion, my skills in post-production improved greatly as I became more
confident in the programmes I was using over the four years that I have studied
the subject and was able to use the tools available to me in a way to bring my
new ideas to life in a way that my target audience would enjoy and appreciate
whilst still making my products recognisable for what they were.