LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT

IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO FULL PRODUCT?

PRELIMINARY TASK Above, the link is present for my preliminary task, named ‘don’t dream’. This film opening was our first time coming up with our own story line for a 2 minute film opening. My preliminary task was based on the genre of horror/thriller and it was Ale, Leah and I within the group. We picked our genres out of a cup too get a guideline on what we would base our film on. However, receiving this genre was quite difficult considering we had minimal props, no money too pay for any costumes, also we had too complete this task in a short space of time therefore, it was harder to visit different locations. Instead we improvised and used different locations within our school and a variety of rooms to help set the scene.

Prelim Task Video

FILMING Within our preliminary task of don’t dream, our group didn’t have a broad understanding on the use of the technologies that required us too complete our film opening. We shared out the amount of work load we had each and we thought to make it equal we would all participate in filming our prelim. At some stages, we didn’t have someone behind the camera we used the tripod and ran into shot, we decided too use this technique due too some circumstances that occurred. As you can see in the prelim we have Ale dressed up as a clown with terrifying makeup. This was a situation being in a range of 11-19 school. We also filmed this during the period that in England there were clown crazes, and riots scaring people in the streets randomly. This also occurred in local schools and we had a situation where Ale was walking across school and younger children questioned this, this cause us too stop filming for a period of time too think about how we could film a ‘stalker’ in the same sense without the face being shown, as the end scene had already been filmed. Also we had various other complications with our filming, as one of the first problems that occurred was that when we filmed one of the lunch scenes the quality of our filming was poor and would have affected the whole film opening, so we decided too re film this scene again. The first time a student from the year above helped to film however this was using a hand held technique and the camera was at different heights for the over the shoulder shots, therefore also altering our 180 degree rule that we had to perfect within the film opening.

EDITINGWithin our prelim task we used the platform Premiere Pro too edit our film opening. This is the main type of editing software that we was expected to use considering it was the main piece of software that we all had some kind of idea about due too our previous tasks that we participated in, such as Juno and dancing animals editing task. This was our first ever editing task where we was given a variety of clips from dancing animals and we had too piece all of this footage together and remove all of the blacks within it, we also had to add a piece of music on top of this footage, a long with a few transitions where we felt needed it, to persist a fluid video. Moreover we used a variety of editing techniques for our Prelim task. As I was allocated the main editor job, I got to develop a wide range of skills which benefited me when coming to edit my final film opening. For example, I first of all understood how too import footage onto this software and include music a long with the footage, however there are a variety of tools which cause different effects when editing and cropping the footage. Some of the techniques that I learnt on the software was ‘ripple delete’ which is when you have a space between the footage that is bare and it can move all of the footage too join it together. Another tool that I learnt too use during the prelim task was the razor tool. This allowed me to cut out any unnecessary footage that didn’t apply too the prelim, or mistakes that occurred. I did this by lining up the timer line with the place where I wanted to cut the footage. I watched it twice before deleting any footage and after I decided which bit I wanted to edit out this allowed me to cut up the footage, then ripple delete the space where the footage has been deleted. From editing my prelim task I understood and learnt how too export the file the correct way, for example you would go to file>export>media, and select the correct properties.

- Razor tool

- Gaps where ripple delete would be used

SHOTS • Different camera angles /

shots - 180 degree rule - Mid shot - Long shot- Close ups - Tracking shot - A low shot

180 degree rule

Mid Shot

Close Up

Low Shot Long shot

HOW DID I PERSONALLY IMPROVE?Personally, I believe I improved to extent on the basis of both editing and filming. With my preliminary task I was an amateur when it came to editing and didn’t use relevant transitions or effects, however when it came to the final product I managed to advance my skills quite a lot. For example, I used different techniques too alter the sound levels and pitch of the sound/music within On Track. When we had complications when filming my prelim task, and there was a large amount of noise in the background in one of the scenes, when listening to the footage on a computer, the background noise could have been defeated with some good editing to eliminate unnecessary noise.

Another thing that I learnt along the way was the use of sound transitions. This benefitted our final task massively when there was a switch between scenes. We used this transition to ensure that the dialogue didn’t come across as too harsh in one scene and when skipping too another it was too low. I managed too overcome this problem by adjusting all the different levels within the speech and music. Linking with the music, I made sure that the music was not over powering and didn’t counteract the diegetic sound. I managed to resolve this problem by adapting each block of music too each scene and too ensure that all of the sound levels flowed throughout and there was no sudden emphatic sound that put the audience off of watching our film.

From this prelim task, I gained better team work skills, a long with better communication. This task enhanced all of our confidence too talk to one another, and talk to others to receive feedback on our performance. Feedback has been the best source of improvement too making our final film opening the best it could be. From understanding what other people thought of it (e.g our target audience and our peers) we knew the best thing was too take this on board and tweak any issues that were present, either in our film opening or within tasks around it.

WHAT HAVE I LEARNT?• Understanding of different technologies - Premiere pro - Emaze - Prezi- Slideshare- Wix

• Use of feedback and working in a group

- Peer assessments- First draft feedback- Self evaluations