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?

Planning: The difference in planning between the preliminary film and the final product was huge, we spent more time on story boarding and creating meaning in the narrative. We made sure that in the final film we used a range of shots from long shots to close ups to give a preferred reading.

Equipment: For my preliminary film, I used a small flip camera which was not particularly high quality, after seeing the footage from these cameras, our group decided we needed to use a better camera so we used Amelia's camera so we could get much clearer shots and make it more convincing as a real film. 

Camera skills: From the preliminary film I learnt a lot about framing shots; in the preliminary I didn't really think about what was in the frame which meant the protagonist was not always central and therefore was not represented as being important. Whereas we made sure not to frame anything unnecessary in our final product, we framed the protagonist so he was almost always central to the shot so he was represented as important. Also, the filming of the preliminary film was shaky, the camera was moving a lot which made it look unprofessional. We made sure if this happened when filming the final product then we would re-film it. This meant checking footage as soon as we had filmed it, which I did not do when filming the preliminary. 

Editing: When editing the preliminary, I only used basic skills like cutting the footage shorter. Whereas with the final product I learnt how to crop images so they were framed better, change the lighting to give a different preferred reading, edit in different transactions, speed up and slow down shots and use a range of shots go create meaning. 

Sound: I learnt how soundtracks can create meaning and connote different emotions and how some diagetic sounds can be conventional to a specific genre.

Ident and titles: I didn't create an ident for my preliminary film, but during the research stage of the project I learnt that they are not only necessary for films to have them, it also makes a film look professional. The same way titles in film openings are very common and make the film look professional.

Team work: I think as the project has gone on, our group has got better and better at working as a team. With the help of emails and texts we were able to communicate quickly between the three of us and devise work up equally and without arguments.