Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Prelim video
Too much head space This is where we used zoom
The continuity editing looked very unproffessional because the shots were either too short or too long or just some of them were unnecessary. There was no steady pace of the continuity and it jumped from one shot to another which would make the audience confused as they did not understand when they watched our prelim. We noticed that the camera was very shaky when we filmed our prelim even though we were given a tripod this just shows how much we did not know how to use the tripod since none of us had any proper experience of filming before. We didnt think about our lighting and how it effects the mood of each scene.
PRELIMINARY COMPARISON to final
One of the main reasons our prelim was really bad was because we didn't plan the scenes we wanted to shoot or figure out the shot types or locations. We didn't know much about filming or how to place each of the characters in each shot so it follows the rule of third. So for our swede video we improved a little bit by adding sound to our film and we also learned a little bit more about the rule of thirds. But we still lacked planning the script as some of our scenes were long and unnecessary that it was making the audience uninterested for the rest of the film. Since it was a swede we added little bits of comedy in it so it also keeps the entertained.
We learnt how to use the tripod much better as there were no shaky camera apart from the scene where the girl is running towards the lift. We used a fig rig for that scene because it was a tracking scene of the girl running and the shakiness helped create tension and made it dramatic.
This is the link to our swede video : http://youtu.be/r8uc33ksMi8
In our final film which is the short 2 minute opening of our teen film, we have improved our skills a lot. Before we even started to shoot our film, we planned out everything; the location, the script, the storyline, the costumes, shot types and more. This helped us so much later on when we started to shoot our film. We knew exactly what we had to film and how we wanted the scenes.
We improved a lot on how to use the rule of thirds which made each of our shots look much better than the preliminary video. We used a variety of different locations to make our film look more realistic and professional. In our prelim video we only used filmed inside our college and that goes same for our swede video too. For our final film the locations that we used were two of the characters house and one outside another characters house. Also we filmed another scene that cross linked with the "the jock" and "the princess". The princess's scene was filmed though a alleyway on her way to Highgate woods. The killer we filmed his scene inside his house and also another scene on the bus. The nerds scene was also filmed in her house. Our last scene was filmed in Highgate wood which was the camp site they were all meeting up at.
Our Final Film
Conclusion
Media studies has taught me lots of things. I have learned how to use a professional film camera and I now have the experience to use camera's such as the JVC HD camera for any future filming. Editing with final cut pro was a hard process to learn but throughout all the videos we have edited as a group, my individual editing skill has been gradually increasing and now I know more about how to edit films and make them look professional. There is still more for me to learn through editing and I think my skills will improve further. The difference in the work and skill that is put in for the final film is massive compared to the limited skills I have used to make our prelim video.