Question 7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progress from it to the full product?

Our preliminary task was a first chance for all of us to have a go at filming and editing. task. The group was the exact same for our preliminary task as for our project. In this task we only did the basic shots (shot/reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule). This was to help us understand the most used and easiest shots. From using the 180 degree rule it allowed us to follow through with the continuity which was the whole point of the task. This meant that we would have to be consistent so we wouldn't confuse the audience.

The preliminary was a chance for us to experiment and find out how we worked as a group and who was best at doing what, therefore we could focus on doing our own part. This would then help us when it came to our main project. From the preliminary it was more of a mess around and no one really knew what we were doing and we went with the flow as there was no planning or research which went ahead with this. However, by looking at this it could have been much worse.

                                   

Research and planning

To get to our main project we had to do some research. This is because we wanted to know who would be our target audience. After sending out a survey we then received some results in the following weeks which we where then able to compare and found out that crime, action and thriller were the most common. Based on this information everyone came up with a rough idea on what would be a great initial idea that we could then all develop into something better. Finally after a long discussion we decided that Jamie's idea would be the best. This then lead into having to pitch our idea to see whether or not it would be a successful film opening. 

This is completely different from the preliminary as there was no planning or research involved as we were just giving the simple task to go out and complete. However, The preliminary task didn't have a a target audience as it was a basic beginners task to give us an insight into what will be needed for our main project

Pre-production

Before we could start doing any sort of filming or editing there was some things we needed to sort out. We needed to design a storyboard which both Jamie and Sofia completed whilst Charlie and Nayma were working on the script. We were all working co-ordinately in order to make sure everything was being matched up and everything that was being said on the script was happening at the right time on the storyboard. After the story board and script were finished everyone had to decided on what part they wanted to play in our project whether it would be on camera or off. Once everyone was happy, we were then able to ask for extras to play parts we needed to fill ( other characters). We saved the film name for last as well as the production company as we agreed at the pre-production stage it was the least important. As soon as everything was agreed and everyone was happy we were then able to proceed with our project.

Compared to our preliminary it was a lot more more work simple because it was our idea and how we worked as a group that would count. It was easy when we first started the post-production for our preliminary as we had to learn 3 simple techniques (shot/reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule) and how to edit them after being sent of to do so.

Production

The production side was considerable one of the harder parts to our project. Everyone was either having to try and change around their schedule or unable to meet, no areas were we needed to film were available, members of our groups missing or the weather wasn't any good to film in (rain or snow). On the first few days of shooting the first scene we were able to film it multiple time and using different shots to decide what would be best. However, after we started getting further into the filming side of it, we gathered many issues and people were starting to become stressed as time was running out and we were still needing to film and edit whilst completing the blogs all at the same time. In the mean time of trying to do everything our teamwork started to worsen as many fall outs occurred. The group would agree at different time on what scene we wanted to film and how we wanted to shot it or when we were unable to film anything due to meet up problems. However, everyone had shortly after gotten over it and arranged another time when it was possible to get the last bit of filming done. It was a relief for everyone when we had finally finished the last scene to film.

The production on the main project was much harder than the preliminary due to us having to take it more seriously and being on a time limit to make present it to the best of our abilities. We had to focus on learning knew camera angles such as over the shoulder shot and high/low angle shot, camera movements such as panning and tracking and camera shots such as establishing shots, long take and close ups. As learning more about these weren't learnt how they are effective and not just used because they can be for instance close ups are used mainly to show emotion and wants the audience to engage with how the character is feeling. These were all useful when filming as they helped us decide on what would be the best way to present what our story was. 

In our main project we used a variety of shots ( more than our preliminary). However due to Jamie being the main character and needed in almost every scene we did, Charlie, Sofia and Nayma filmed. We all worked productively and worked numerous days and hours to get this to the perfect standard to which we were all happy with. We all had to constantly be conferring ideas as to how we could make it better. It took a lot longer to film this compared to the preliminary and was a lot harder to make sure that everything was going smoothly. However, we were constantly rushing and trying to work around being kicked out of rooms and areas around the school.

Post-Production

The editing was something in which we were all shown how to do using the software Premier Pro. The editing was done by mainly Jamie however, everyone else did pitch in if needed. Whilst we worked on other group tasks that needed to be completed such as the production company which was to be designed and edited into our final piece, the rest of our blogs, evaluation and helped Jamie complete his when needed as well. This part of the process was what i think considerably the hardest part as we were really rushing against time to complete all of the tasks. Moreover, we were having to make sure that any shots that needed to be done where and allow everyone to see what we had accomplished within the last few months of hard work.

The post-production was harder again from the preliminary simply because we had to know more and whilst we had a longer deadline to make sure we knew what was doing, who would be doing it and when it had to be done by, the quality of it had to be so much better. Whilst we only knew the basic shot/reverse shot in the preliminary we had to expand our knowledge into other editing techniques such as fade, cut to black, jump cut, the use of ellipsis and cross cutting extra and whilst some weren't used they were still useful to know and understand what they can portray towards their audiences.

           

From looking back at our preliminary from our main project I can see the difference. In the main project we use a variety of bigger and better skills such as camera angles, we also took it more seriously and made sure that every part of what we did was done correctly and broken down to be as simple as possible. We had to take into account if music would be necessary, if the cast was al; doing the right task, the different shots,angles and movements which could have a better effect than the ones we had taken and the lighting had to be taken into account as well. Overall, we can see that our knowledge towards media and techniques have grown tremendously and we have also learnt about the benefits and reasons behind the filmig used by directors.


Written by Charlie