Sarah Byard

We used many more technologies in the final piece than in the prelim, because the prelim was shorter and less detailed. Our film required more attention to detail because it was meant to be a film opening, so had to be more developed than our prelim, which was just an exercise to get used to the camera/FCP etc.

• Cameraphone• Internet – Google.

We thought a lot more about mise-en-scene in the final than in the prelim, because in our final we wanted to get meanings across and to make it feel more authentic. In our prelim, we weren’t aware that it’s easier to edit with controlled, artificial light than with natural light, so in our prelim we used natural but for the final, we controlled the lighting.

Prelim FinalNatural lighting sets too many different tones to edit properly.

Random props not really thought about, they were just there when we came to film.

Only prop thought about, but only decided on the day.

The artificial lighting is controlled so the levels can be changed easier.

Appropriate props for the genre thought about and chosen.

Costume thought about to make it appropriate for genre.

We used more of a variety of shots in our final piece, because our final piece was longer and made up of shorter clips, whereas our prelim was a simple conversation. We also use camerawork to infer meaning and dominance in our final (such as low angled shot of a well to infer Esther’s dominance) because we had learnt more skills by the time we came to film our final piece.

Prelim Final

We broke the 180 degree rule in our prelim, but we weren’t aware of it then so we didn’t make sure we didn’t break it.

We used a larger variety of shots in our final, because we wanted to make it more visually interesting and to give the shots meaning.

Less of a variety of shots used in the prelim makes it monotonous and less visually appealing.

We took lots more care with the editing in our final coursework piece than with the editing in our prelim, because we knew more about editing techniques and how to create meaning through editing. Because we were more skilled in using Final Cut Pro by the time we edited our coursework, we were able to add in more effects and correct the colour of the first section.

Prelim Final

We did not use filters because we weren’t sure about them or how to use them, but we could’ve used one here to show the surrealism of the situation, when Hannah asks for my soul.

We were more aware of filters by the time we came to edit our final coursework piece, so we used the stop motion blur to add some surrealism to the dream sequence.

We used sound for more than just dialogue in our final piece to give it more depth and to involve the viewer more. We did not really think about the sound issue Ralph had in our prelim, but in our final we turned up the sound levels so that the dialogue could be heard. We also knew how to use Garageband by this point, so we could record voiceovers for our final piece, something we couldn’t do (and probably wouldn’t have gone anyway) in our prelim. We also used music to create tension, something we didn’t even think about for our prelim.

Our time management for our prelim was quite poor. We didn’t really think about how long it would take, so we just picked a random day and filmed. We started off like this for our final piece, but we soon realised that it was going to take a lot longer to film than the prelim, because it was much more detailed, so we had to organise ourselves and make a clear plan of when we were going to film and what we were going to film in that time period.

This is our shooting schedule for our final coursework piece, which can be found here:http://sarahsamazingmediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/shooting-schedule.html

There is no shooting schedule for our prelim to compare it to.

The narrative of our prelim was very simple and thought up on the day. The plot was very simplistic, which meant that it was clear. However, in our final piece, the narrative was more complex and was established using more than just dialogue (flashbacks, voiceovers, editing etc.). The plot in our final was not as clear, as established by our audience feedback for our final piece, but that was in keeping with the conventions of a psychological thriller.

Prelim Final

Flashbacks establish the friendship between mine and Jess’s characters and add some normality to the piece.

Narrative not established at all through camerawork or through editing.