Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I feel that since my preliminary task, I have greatly developed as a film maker. I feel that my knowledge of different shot types and editing techniques has greatly increased, and that I am now in a better position to approach other projects with a greater knowledge and understanding.

Although our preliminary task was good, with a good plot line and good continuity editing techniques being used, there were some problems. For example, the lighting on our preliminary task was poor, and the low angle shot we used meant that the actors head could not be seen very well because of poor lighting. I feel that this is something we have greatly improved on, and we were more aware of this when we were filming. Furthermore, our use of mise-en-scene has improved since filming our preliminary, because in our thriller opening, our actors were wearing costumes appropriate to their role to make that clear to the audience, and we also used props in our thriller, to make the action seem more realistic. I feel that our attention to detail when editing has also increased since the preliminary task, as we are more careful to ensure that the cuts are more accurate and appropriate, and that the sound editing was fitting to the on screen action at that time.

There are many techniques and skills that we have developed since our preliminary task was created. We have developed our ability to keep the camera steady when filming, which is something that we struggled with in our preliminary task. Our ability to edit sequences of continuity together has also improved, as we can now match an actor’s foot position with the previous shot, so that it appears as though they are walking smoothly through a scene.  We can also adhere to the 180^o rule when filming, so that it does not appear as though the actors have swapped sides, which would confuse the audience. However, when filming the train station scene in our final production, we filmed this very early on in the morning, as the sun was still rising, so we struggled to adhere to the 180^o rule whilst making sure that shadows were not in our shot. If we filmed something in future with a bigger budget, we could perhaps use lighting to counteract this problem. We also improved our shot-reverse-shot techniques in our thriller production, and my knowledge of how to film and edit a match on action shot has also improved.

Whilst planning the production, and working out what shots we would include in our production, we were a lot more methodical. For example, we came up with around five or six ideas for our production, and made telephone calls to discuss their feasibility. Then, we sat down as a group, and decided which one we felt would work the best. We also discussed each different shot as a group, coming up with a shot list and storyboard that we were all happy with. When we were editing our thriller, we discussed this as a group, to decide what changes we wanted to change. By taking this approach towards our planning, it ensured that our whole group was happy with the thriller, and that it was as good as it can be.

Overall, I feel that our thriller was very successful, although we could have made some improvements to make it even better still. Firstly, we should have used artificial lighting to try and eliminate shadows, as because we were filming in the morning, we had to have some shadows in shot in order to adhere to the 180^o rule. I think that we should have also checked the quality of the camera footage before filming, as after we came back from the cemetery, we were disappointed to find that the quality of one camera was far superior to the quality of another, which made our film look slightly unprofessional. I also feel that we should have thought more about the title of the film, as this is perhaps not fitting with the rest of the production, and might confuse the audience when they purchase it.  

However, I feel that our choice of location was very good, as it fitted our film’s plot perfectly. Because of the concerns with health and safety, we would never have found a piece of disused track owned by national rail to strap our victim to, and we were very lucky that the owners of the track at Rippingale allowed us to film our media work there. Furthermore, I feel that we used a varied amount of shots and techniques in the thriller, which were appropriate for that point in the narrative, and this is a technique that we have improved upon since creating our preliminary task.

From the two shots above, you can see how we have improved from our preliminary task. You can see that our preliminary task (left) had poor lighting, whilst in a similar shot in our actual production, the lighting was lots better.

 

Our continuity editing skills have also greatly increased since we shot our preliminary task. Our preliminary task (left) had editing techniques that left too much of a gap between each cut, which meant the overall feel was poor. Also, our shot framing was quite poor in our preliminary task, as only the actor’s body could be seen, cutting off his head. However, our thriller task featured better continuity editing techniques, which much sharper cuts which gave the film a more professional feel. Our framing was also greatly improved on the actual production task.