Evaluation 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it the full product?

What skills did you learn during the preliminary task?
During the preliminary task, I learnt how to use the camera and tripod to make high or low angle shots, as you can see in the photo we have changed the level of our camera, and then in the 2nd photo it is a medium shot, also how to create close ups, shots, over the shoulder shots as you can see in the video. I learnt how to place the shots one after each other to create fact paced editing, however, I did not learn so much as advanced skills such as use of effects or titles etc. 

How have I developed my skills in the real task:
After the preliminary task, I learnt a variety of key skills surrounding filming, editing, sound.

Filming:
Whilst filming, I learnt new skills such as how to create different camera shots. Although, it wasn't included in our opening sequence, I successfully created a canted angle. I also created a birds eye view shot of 'Hannah's' eye. Below is the image of us creating the birds eye view shot.

I also learnt how to do a hand-held-shot, to make the shots shaky to make it seem more realistic or as if we can see from inside Hannah's mind being distorted and she can't think properly. This hand held shot is conventional to the horror/thriller genre, therefore we are lucky to have learnt the skill. 




Editing:
I also learnt many key skills whilst editing as well. Such as I learned how to add in a cross dissolve, to make the shots next to each other slowly dissolve into one each other, instead of jumpy shots. I also learnt how to filter the colours of the shot, to make it suit more our opening sequence. Such as most of the shots were very warm, we wanted to make them look very cold and bright with hints of blue. I learnt how to make this effect using final cut express.  As you can see by the 3 photos the first 2 showing the different filters to show the emotions of 'Hannah' and the last showing the editing technique of the cross dissolve.

Sound:
After creating our preliminary material, I realised the dialogue off the camera you have filmed on, does not sound good once uploaded to the computer. So, I now have learnt, had to in soundtracks, by downloading them as an MP3 and importing them on to final cut express. I also learnt how to add in sound effects by using youtube and again importing them. I also learnt how to change the pitch, and how fast or slow the audio is played. For example, Harry Percy who was the voice for our voiceover had a higher voice then we wanted, so we learnt to lower the pitch to make him sound older and more scary. 

What were the weakness of my preliminary task?
The main weakness of our preliminary material was that we broke the 180 degree rule. We were unsuccessful with this as when filming from behind the actors, we filmed from the opposite side of each perspective, going against the rule, which should be filmed on the imaginary line of vision, rather than diagonally across. I learnt from this and did produce a practise of the way it should be  produced for reference purposes; however it was not needed within the final product as we decided to have no dialogue. One of the main issues we had with our preliminary task was that we could not find a suitable location, due to the time we had to make it. So we used a small room in our school, which was supposed to look like a interview office in a police station, also with the domestic violence scenes it is quite clearly a school in the background of the image below and did not look like a home therefore it wasn't realistic 
. To prevent this we made sure we chose a location that is suitable to all our group members and accessible at all times when needed. We also had an issue with finding 2 actors suitable for each role, as it was in a school environment we needed an older person to play the role of the investigator but all teachers were in a lesson, so therefore we had to use our own. To prevent this issue from arising in our opening sequence we decided to keep actors to a minimal and only use 1 actor which was in our group, therefore she had to be there at all times whether she was acting or not. She also knew exactly how to act, and what to wear and where to go as she was part of planning our media product.

Essential Aspects needed for a good opening sequence:

• Excellent time-keeping
• Good team-work, (everyone contributing)
• Range of camera angles, and editing techniques
• Experimentation skills
• Organisation skills
• Planning skills
• Communication skills

What have we learnt overall about practical work?
Overall, we have made a lot of improvements and gained knowledge upon key skills of  the filming industry. I had also learnt the length of time put into experimentation, planning   and research   in   order  to  make  an  effective  product. Key software skills, such as those gained on Final Cut Express and Live Type, allowed me to gain knowledge on editing skills, such as  video transitions like cross dissolve, and fade into colour and video filters such as colour corrector and RBG balance. I had also learnt about the importance of mise-en-scene, making sure the product contains conventions and subtle signifiers of its genre, and how important the costume and body language/facial expressions are to create a successful product  as well as retaining continuity throughout the product. It is also important to make sure to have back up ideas and plans as in most cases many things would go wrong and it is essential to have a plan to stop this issue from resulting in a bad product.