Hidden Worlds (2024)
“Hidden Worlds” is a short title sequence I worked on for my Postproduction module. It is nature-themed, and was filmed at Carr Mill Dam, a local woodland. The title “Hidden Worlds” refers to the fact that nature is a “hidden world” that we overlook when going about our daily lives, and that exploring nature will take us away from the real world for a bit. The intent of the title sequence is to make the audience fall in love with nature, and accomplishes that through an accurate, relaxing sound design, as well as good cinematography and peaceful clarinet music.
My composition and cinematography skills were greatly transformed from working on this module. My original shots were shaky and overexposed. However, after sitting down with my lecturer, I learned how to shoot in a more cinematic way, and thus went out to reshoot my footage. Some of my shots are still overexposed, such as the robin shot, and the mushroom shot is out of focus. However, for the most part, my cinematography is excellent and with more practice, I would be able to shoot much cleaner shots.
I think the sound design is also excellent. There are a variety of sounds, ranging from white noise, water, and the birds, which makes for an authentic, engaging sound design. Sound design comprises 50% of the experience and thus it was important that I put as much effort into my sound design as for my shots. Similarly, the clarinet music is very peaceful and complements the relaxing tone of the shots and sound design.
I think I could have used some more postproduction techniques to take advantage of the things I have learned on the module. For example, I could have used more than simply fading in and out for my typography, and I should have looked at motion design artists to enhance the production value, as I don’t feel that I did enough to truly explore the creative potential of the module.
Overall, however, I am happy with this title sequence, and my compositions, colour grading, and sound design are strong and complement the theme effectively. However, some of my compositions are overexposed and I feel that I could have done more to explore the content of the module.
