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

     

Before we made our thriller opening and all the research and planning to go with it we did a preliminary task. This task allowed us to experiment with the cameras and see which problems we may come across as well as to learn all the rules of video production such as the 180 degree rule. As well as this it allowed us to experiment with the editing software available on the Macs through iMovie and see what may look good for our full production. I feel that I have developed a lot from filming the preliminary task to the end of our full production. I have gained a lot of skills and knowledge about the different effects and ways of filming. There are also a lot of rules to filming that I have learned since the preliminary task. Some of these are the 180 degree rule, continuity, match on action and shot reverse shot. These are all really important and I have learned this during the creation of this production. This is because using them effectively can help to build tension and by not using them you could leave the audience confused and therefore the film wouldn’t be as successful.

 

 

Overall our preliminary task was very proficient but it did have some shortcomings. One of the main shortcomings was the continuity of it as there were a couple of little errors in the preliminary. We also had a range of shots throughout the preliminary film clip but there were still a few more that we could have used such as an establishing shot or an extreme close up and if we had used them it could have made our clip a little more interesting and could have helped to build the tension a bit more due to focusing on important objects and setting the scene better. When filming our full production we tried to correct these small but noticeable errors by referring to our plans more and being aware of what we did wrong during our preliminary and being careful not to make the same mistakes. I think we have done this well and managed to build upon them to create a successful movie clip. The composition and framing of our shots was effective as they clearly showed the most important objects and parts at all. We managed to build on these good points from our preliminary and continued to use these strengths. Our preliminary video and our production are below to show the progression from one to the other.

During the progression from our preliminary task to the completion of our full production I feel that I have developed some specific skills when filming and editing our film. One of the skills that I have learned is that continuity is really important in movies and I have learned how to make sure that two shots continue from exactly the same point during filming (match on action). I have also learned that you need to make sure that as much as possible is exactly the same such as weather, hair and clothing. Another skill that I have learned is to follow the 180 degree rule. This is a really important rule as if the camera doesn’t follow the 180 degree rule the audience could get confused. During our production and the preliminary task we managed follow the 180 degree rule so throughout our production I have realised how important it is. Shot reverse-shot and match on action are two other good skills that I have learned how to do. By including these two things and trying to build on them as much as possible throughout the production some of the best results can be achieved such as being able to read character’s body language much easier and it can help to make the impact of the film very effective including building the tension and adding to the mystery for the audience.

Here are some screenshots comparing our preliminary task to our full production. They show how we have built on some of the strengths of our preliminary task but also fixed some mistakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have learned throughout this production the importance of planning. Poor planning can ultimately lead to failure but a good plan could produce a really good movie. Although our preliminary task had some planning it didn’t have nearly as much as our full production did. Because we did so much research and planning for our full production we managed to include some of the best effects and most liked audience effects to our film. We mapped out everything from the genre of film we were going to make to which shots we were going to include and the costumes. Storyboards and shotlists were also really important as they meant that we knew exactly which shots we needed and which angle they needed to be taken from. This was really useful and saved us a lot of work and panic on the day of filming as we knew exactly what we needed to get in order to produce our movie opening.

Overall I think our thriller opening is quite successful. We have included many different shot types include close ups, extreme close ups, medium shots and shot reverse shot including some more complicated shots such as a panning shot. I think that there could definitely be some room for improvement if we had more time and better equipment but currently the opening sets out to do what it needs to do which is to provide an opening to a film providing mystery and some tension to help build on the genre we chose. I think that if we had some more time then we could make more use of lighting and possible create some of our own non-diegetic sounds which would have sounded more realistic than some of those that we found on the internet and added to our movie opening.