Question 7Looking back at your preliminary task, what do

you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Research and Planning

Prelim:

When planning for the prelim task, we were given a script which consisted of the speech and actions. The prelim planning wasn’t in as much detail as the final product was in, and was jotted down on the back of the scripts which we had been given. We weren’t given the choice on what we wanted to do for the prelim task so we just followed what we were given. We didn’t think to add onto the scripts or improvise the scene to make it better.

Planning for the prelim task was done over one lesson which was when we decided where it was set, and in that lesson we took still images for the storyboard.

Research and Planning

Final Product

When researching for the final product which we created we looked at different movie openings to give us an idea on what we might want to do and what genre we might’ve wanted our teen film to be. We watched teen movies over a couple of weeks before creating our movie opening so that we had an idea of how an opening of a teen film should be, and what a teen film is usually made up of.

We were given a list of teen films in lesson which may interest us and we watched the opening scenes of all these movies and decided that we wanted our opening to be like two of the movies but as we couldn’t decide on which movie we wanted to base ours on, we decided to combine both of the movies which were ‘Attack The Block’ and ‘The Blair Witch Project’.

Research and Planning

The following lesson we decided to go out around Angel and take still images for our storyboard so that we got a clearer idea of how it will look as a finished product and we could show what we planned for our film opening to look like.

After we had created a storyboard, we had to create a pitch and present it to the class. This pitch consisted of the synopsis, the inspiration, locations, props, costume, sound, production schedule, risk assessment, the institutional detail and the audience detail. This showed that we had taken a lot of time to think about the mise en scene, the sound and the audience. We had been given feedback which helped us to fix the gaps and flaws in our pitch and planning to make it better so that nothing had been missed out and everything would go to plan.

Filming Skills Prelim:

Whilst doing the preliminary task we had just gotten use to how to use a camera properly and were just beginning to understand how camera work can make a scene look good or bad. We had just learnt about the different shot types and rules such as the 180 rule which we had to present in our prelims.

Prelim

When filming for the prelim we didn’t pay close attention to what is and isn’t in the frame so we had problems with framing as Josh’s head was getting cut out and the background in certain shots meant that the attention wasn’t always on what should have been the main focus but on other distractions in the frame. Also we didn’t have smooth transitions into shots so there were a lot of jump cuts where there shouldn’t have been.

Final ProductWhen filming for the opening of our movie we found that it was easier to see whether we had to reshoot due to poor quality of framing or whether the tracking wasn’t smooth enough. As we had filming other things such as our swedes, we have got more comfortable with using cameras and have taught ourselves more skills such as cross cutting and shot reverse shot. The transition of our shots are cleaner and look to be more of a higher standard than in the prelim. Also as feedback from our rough cut we had been told to reshoot a scene as the frame had many distractions in the back which took away the focus from the chase which was happening at the time.

Filming Skills When filming for the prelim everyone was more tense in

front of the camera than they were for the film opening which meant that the acting looked a bit forced, whereas in the final product it looked more natural which made the product as a whole look better. Also when filming for the prelim framework wasn’t as strong as it is in the final product. The tripods were put to better use and the fig rig which meant shots were straighter and didn’t look as amateur as they did in the prelim. The camera was better controlled when filming the final product as it was planned in more detail so we knew whether it’d be a close up or a wide shot. This meant that shots varied more in the final product than they did in the preliminary task.

Editing Skills Prelim:

When editing for the prelim task, we imported all of the scenes and set it out in order onto the timeline and got rid of the parts which we didn’t want which meant that there are a lot of jump cuts. This meant that the sequence doesn’t flow seamlessly and it cuts from one scene to another which makes the product have less of a professional look to it and makes it seem amateur. Sound wasn’t used on top of the sequence so the sound also jump cuts from one scene to another and makes the whole thing look and sound very messy and unprofessional.

Editing Skills Final Product:

When editing for the final product we made sure to each have a turn editing and we had a schedule for how much editing we should have done by the end of each lesson. As we had adapted more now to using final cut pro we knew that if something didn't’t flow freely we could use transitions, which the programme already has to try and make it flow better.

Any jump cuts that we had in the product were spotted when we were given feedback from our rough cuts. This meant that we had to make jump cuts more smoother so that it all flowed well and looked better. We went out to film on another day so that we had a filler from one scene to another and we also changed a scene around so that it didn’t look like in one scene the gang were close to the victim whilst in the next they were far back.

We also put music in when editing as it makes the sequence run smoother as if there was sound instead of music it wouldn’t flow as well as in one the sound would be quite loud and in another it would be quiet.

The finished product looked to be more professional and of a higher standard as the editing was better and so was the filming which helped.

Prelim and Final Product

Across both productions which I have created, I have learned about different skills such as successfully being able to match cut and cross cut. Also I have developed my camera skills along with my editing skills using mise en scene, lighting and sound to make the final product to come together successfully. I have developed my editing skills across both productions as when I first started on editing the preliminary task I wasn’t very sure on how to sequence it, but with the final product I was more confident in editing as I had learnt how to use final cut pro more efficiently.