The End is Near - Reflecting on our Final Film Opening and my Time taking AICE Media Studies

The opening sequence that my partner and I made for our film, Balancing Act, has finally been edited. It is now available to view under the 'Final Production' tab. Upon its completion, I feel as if my time in AICE Media Studies has come full circle. I still have the written exam from Component 2 that I need to take on May 21st, but the near completion of this website for Component 1 has really shown how much I have grown since the start of this class.

At the start of this course, I thought that I knew a lot about the film industry and the behind-the-scenes process of how a film was made. Back then, I was naïve; I only knew the most basic knowledge of production and the film industry. However, my knowledge has really grown since, and I think that it shows in the work that my partner and I have turned in over the course of this class. I have already covered this extensively as a part of my creative critical reflections, so more information on that can be found under that section on this website.

The editing phase was very long and extensive, as there were several different checkpoints that my partner and I had to achieve. Firstly, I strung together our individual shots using the Windows 10 video editor, which resulted in the rough cut of our opening sequence. After that, my partner took over to create the final cut. Using Blender, he added the opening credits sequence, as well as adding the music. The song choice was Family, a hip hop song done my a friend of ours, IAMKHAOS. After the editing process was finished and our final opening was complete, I now truly understand how important editing is to filmmaking. While I did not work extensively on the final draft, I witnessed trial and error that lasted a few days. While it was not easy, we were able to create a film opening that looked and sounded very different from our rough cut, even though we only added credits and music.

Looking at the opening sequence for Balancing Act fills my heart with joy. My partner and I worked extremely hard throughout the entire course, making little progress with each checkpoint that resulted in a well-thought out and in-depth website and film opening. Every step helped contribute to the development of the site and the opening, making it feel grand in design. This course taught me how to plan ahead, as well as the lesson of paying stuff off. The payoff for the copious amounts of work that we turned in is satisfying because we made this - all of this. That sense of pride and accomplishment will continue to guide me during the Component 2 written exam, as well as beyond this course for future developments.