Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression to the

full product?

Planning• From the preliminary task we learnt that planning was an integral part

of the production when facing a deadline, as we were on both the preliminary and final tasks. Due to our lack of planning on the preliminary task, we were forced to film all of our shots in just one day, meaning that we were unable to spend as much time as we would have liked carefully choosing the right location or the perfect angles to use. Although we still met the brief, better planning could have improved our preliminary task.

• With the final production, we made sure that we planned our filming days right down to the minute, so that we could get as much done as possible in the time we had. We made sure that we knew what shots to include before we started filming, and we had already sourced our location well before shooting our scenes, which saved time as we didn’t waste time trying to find a good location on the day. We also made sure that we started filming as soon as we could, which meant that we were able to spend a lot of time filming our scenes until they were perfect, and it freed up more time to edit the production.

Equipment• For the preliminary task we used very basic equipment, and

this showed in the quality of our footage. It was very grainy and the resolution was not as high as we would have liked. This makes it seem less professional, and therefore our final product would not be taken as seriously if we didn't address this issue.

• For the final task we used a Canon 600D DSLR, which enabled us to film at 1080p and produce footage of a high quality. We also used a tripod for almost all of our shots, as this greatly improved the stability of the footage. The DSLR also allowed us to do focus pulls which gave us an interesting use of depth of field; this was down to the lens having a manual zoom function. The camera also has a function where a grid pattern appears on the screen, enabling us to easily use the rule of thirds and create more accurate shots.

Mise-en-scene• In our preliminary task, the characters were wearing the same clothes that they were wearing

in real life, making it hard for the audience to distinguish between the characters and make an immediate opinion of their role and characteristics. We also had no props in the opening sequence, and the setting was a room in our school. This meant that we were very limited in the story that we could tell, and we decided that we needed to address this when planning for our final task. We did research both independently and through the theory side of the AS course and found that mise-en-scene is extremely important in every production.

• For our final task, we planned costumes that reflected the characters and the mood of the film to add a sense of realism and professionalism to our production. We used props such as the fake gun to enable us to tell an interesting and dramatic story, something we would have been unable to do if we had kept the mise-en-scene at the same condition as it was for the preliminary task. We also made sure our location fitted the genre and mood of our film, and that there was no clutter in the back ground that might distract the audience, as there was in the preliminary task.

Shots and Angles• Our preliminary task was our opportunity to practice our shots and camera angles, and

to try new techniques. Examples of this is our match on action with the door, and the use of the 180 degree rule during the conversation. We were then able to apply this to our final task, with match on action present many times in the opening sequence, as it creates a fluidity to the production and shows professional technique.

• In terms of angles, we learnt a lot from our preliminary task. We learnt that camera angles dictate how the audience view a character’s dominance and mood, and can be used to convey the situation effectively. We applied this by using high angle shots when looking at the main character in our opening sequence to make him seem powerless and out of controll of the situation.

Editing• In our preliminary task, we had very little experience of the software we

were using. This meant that we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to use it, which used up a lot of our limited time, and therefore our editing was slightly rushed. Due to lack of experience of the software, we used very basic edits on our preliminary task.

• In the final task we used much more sophisticated edits to create the desired effect, and implemented other aspects to the editing stage such as titles, non-diegetic sound and external dialogue. This would not have taken much more time than it did had we not learnt about editing and our editing software during our preliminary task.