Evaluation question 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
By Julie Luong
rESEARCH
During our preliminary task, we did learn and know about a variety of shot types however we didn't consider researching further about shot types, we stuck to what we knew. We didn't research themes, conventions or genres therefore it was quite basic and we followed the task without being too creative. However, with researching for our final task we researched thoroughly, we had to research conventions of film openings, title sequences, sound/music to use for opening sequence, a story line, genre, locations. Therefore my skills in research have improved and I have learnt a lot of new skills throughout my process this year. At the start I had barely any research skills but in a matter of months I can now extensively research.
PLANNING
Whilst planning for our preliminary task (Holby City) we had limited planning and barely extended our ideas as we followed a script. We used locations within college as this was readily available for us, we filmed mainly in the staff kitchen and hallway. We did plan costumes/props as we all wore formal, professional suits or smarter clothing in order to convey the realistic look as we were in a working, office environment. Moreover, I have learnt that planning is important in order to be organised and have developed ideas. We had to make a storyboard of what shot types, shot movements and shot angles and also include what would be happening in each scene, this allowed us to follow a direct storyboard and made it clear to us what we had to do.
planning
As a group, we had to figure out where we would film and Analiza kindly offered us her house, the location is important as it has to suit the genre we were doing. For example we couldn't have filmed an urban, violent scene in her pink bedroom as this would not suit the theme. We also planned as a group what costumes and props to bring, we communicated outside of college hours and made sure we had exactly what we needed. Blogger helped us to include all of our research in one place so it was easy to access and see all our planning. My skills in planning have significantly improved, I can now use a variety of technology such as storyboards to plan and conduct better planning than during preliminary task.
filming
Throughout filming our preliminary task, we are quite unprepared as this was our first time filming something. Therefore we encountered a few mistakes such as not using the thirds rule in our framing, we didn't use the ND filter so many of our shots are over exposed and too bright, which looks extremely unnatural. Some shots aren't well focused. We made the most of our location, we tried to make it look as office like as possible but it still doesn't look entirely believable. In our final task we made sure we followed the thirds rule entirely, made sure all shots were well framed. Micky's framing tutorial previously to us filming our opening sequence was very helpful. We made sure lighting was as natural as possible and that the lighting was suited to the theme we tried to portray, such as it being darker when Analiza snuck up the stairs as it would still be early.
FILMING
My skills in filming have developed greatly as I now am aware of framing shots using the thirds rule and having little head space, also my use of mise en scene has improved as we really had to think about what we would include in our shots as this would convey the personality of the character and symbolize their stereotype. We made sure all shots were all in focus so they aren't blurry or look unprofessional.
editing
When editing our preliminary task, we tried to use continuity editing and have seamless, smooth match cuts but some shots are still very jumpy. This may be due to the fact that we were inexperienced with using Final Cut Pro to insure seamless editing. During editing, we didn't add any titles or any extra sound/music/effects rather than the audio we filmed. In our final task, we really tried our hardest to insure that we used continuity editing throughout and that all the match cuts were seamless to make it look as professional and smooth as possible. We followed the 180 degree rule, making sure that we did not break this rule or it wouldn't look great and break the conventions of film. We included titles in our opening sequence, using various sound effects such as bird sounds, footsteps and music. My development in editing has progressively improved, I have learnt how to use Final Cut Pro effectively to edit, cut the unwanted shots, add music, sound.