Looking back at preliminary task, what I have learnt in the progression from it to full product

Looking back at our preliminary task, I feel that I have learnt a lot in the progression from it to our final media product. For the preliminary task we planned, prepared, shot and edited the sequence over the course of a week whereas the main task took months to plan, prepare, shoot and edit as we had to come up with a narrative and the process included storyboarding the whole sequence. For the preliminary task everyone in the group shared the roles whereas for the main task everyone had an assigned role and therefore had different jobs to do alone when working towards the shoot day. On the shoot day however, we all got the opportunity to shoot our thriller and also be in our thriller as we were part of the groups of people filming on our phones. Our brief for the preliminary task consisted of wide, mid and close up shots whereas for our final task we had no specific shots and the shot angles depended on where the group member was filming with their phone.

For the preliminary task we were given a short storyboard and the task was more focused on filming techniques and learning to use cut and pro whereas our main task taught us to use after effects and required more detailed editing. However on the actual shoot day, similarly to the preliminary task, we improvised the majority of our sequence as it was shot on different mobile phones from different angles and therefore did not follow our original storyboard. This made all the conversations and the events that happen within our thriller more realistic as it was not extensively rehearsed or scripted. For example, for the preliminary task we did not need a production folder which shows that the planning for the main task was much more in depth and also sophisticated.

In our main task we had a large cast and props however for the preliminary we used members of our group as our cast and had basic props. I found with the main task we had to create more visual stimulation for the audience to keep the focused on the product. We also had a larger set for our main task which covered a wider area, we set it in the cafeteria and used upstairs as well as downstairs and the corridors and stairs within the building. For the preliminary task we used an empty classroom. Overall the preliminary task is an example of small scale film making when in comparison to our main task.

I think my film making skills have improved since the preliminary task as I have now learnt what looks professional in film making and for specifically thrillers, how to build tension, followed by shock on the audience's behalf. I learnt this from the process of planning and also editing the thriller. However my skills using a video camera have not improved since the preliminary task because we only used mobile phones to shoot our thriller. I have improved a lot with my editing skills; I can now use final cut-pro without assistance and have learnt about the different tools to create different effects in a film. I have also learnt how to use after effects to put in ‘muzzle flashes’ to create the effect of shooting guns, we did not use after effects in our preliminary task. We also used cast and crew credits in our main task which was not used in our preliminary to make it seem more like an opening sequence of a film. In our preliminary task we had a lot of assistance from our teacher when planning, shooting and editing. Although we did have some help with our main task, it was not to the same extent and we were therefore left to make a lot of the decisions ourselves. Considering our main task is the second short film we have made, I am proud of what we have achieved.

Although our main task was shot all in one take, it took a whole day to brief and organise the cast, position each group member with their cameras, work out the journey through the cafeteria of the ‘shooters’ and then rehearse the whole sequence to make sure no mistakes were made in our final take. It also took weeks to edit as we had to edit and re-edit a lot of times because to make it look professional it had to be edited in a certain way. Whereas we had worked out a rough cut of our preliminary task in about fifteen minutes as it only required simple shots.

In found some similarities with both tasks, as our lighting was basic for both tasks. We used the cafeterias ordinary lighting to make the sequence realistic and create an everyday atmosphere in our sequence and in the preliminary we turned off the classroom lights and used natural lighting to create a darker atmosphere in the sequence. The sound in the preliminary task was just a basic recording of dialogue which was similar to our sound in the main task. However we used gun shot sound effects and at different points we used final cut to change the volume of the different screens to draw the audiences attention to a single screen and to prevent the sequence from being to busy and chaotic.