Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?


The preliminary task was a great way of seeing what our strengths and weaknesses were in terms of planning, shooting and editing a sequence. While my preliminary task sequence was completely different to my film opening, the skill were transferable and I was able to apply the knowledge and techniques that I gained from the preliminary task.

My Preliminary Task

Pre Production:

Prior to the preliminary task, I had not realised how important pre-production is. We spent time thinking about what shots we wanted for different events within the sequence, how we wanted to be portraying our main character (the girl) and how we would achieve the look we wanted using different framings and camera movements. We drew all the shots on post-it notes and organised them on a large piece of sugar-paper. This method of storyboarding is very good because it is so visual and it allowed us to picture the sequence in our minds before we actually filmed it and we were able to easily make any necessary changes to shot orders. We were also able to identify any lack of shot types and easily add them in. We found this method of storyboarding easy and effective and so we decided to use the same method for our film opening.

An early version of our storyboard for our film opening

The preliminary task also made us think carefully about our choice of actors. We found that it was much easier to film people who were comfortable in front of a camera and who were decent at acting. I was chosen to act (as the boy in the dark room) and this also allowed me to get used to being filmed and acting. This, obviously, was very useful as I was the main character in our final AS piece. We also found that, while having good actors is important, having actors that are readily available is also key. The fact that we only used members from our group to act meant that it was easier to film because the actors already knew what was trying to be achieved and were also committed to the project. This is the main reason why I acted in the final AS piece as I knew what happened in each shot, what we were trying to show and how we were going to show it.

Production:

By filming the preliminary task, I:

• was able to practise using the camera
• was forced to think about how we could practically achieve different shots and looks
• practised communicating with the people who were on set (actors, clapperboard operators, etc)
• realised the impracticalities of filming in a public place
• realised the importance of a shooting schedule and of filming shots in order of location and set-up instead of in the order that they appear in the sequence
• learned the practicalities and impracticalities of using a small camera and how to work around them or take advantage of them

Post Production:

The post production stage was probably where I learned the most. It was the first time I was able to practice editing a continuity sequence. This meant I thought about and used things like:

• Matches on action
• The 180° rule
• Shot reverse shot

 Matches On Action in my Preliminary Task 

 180° Rule in the Film Opening

 Continuity Editing in my Preliminary Task

 Continuity Editing in the Film Opening

Other:

All of the things listed above are things that were good about the task and that I was able to learn from and copy for the film opening. However, there were plenty of things about the preliminary task that didn't go well that I was able to learn from:

• The sound mix for the preliminary task was very bad.. There were moments of silence and the sound changed from shot to shot, taking away from the realism of the scene and detracting from the continuity.
• While we were trying to create a dark look in the computer room, I felt that the shot was too dark and looked bad. There was a similar shot that we were going to include in our film opening but, again, we couldn't light the shot correctly and we had to leave it out of the sequence. We explain this in more detail in the video below.

• We didn't grade our preliminary task at all so it didn't look as good as it could have. This also meant it was more difficult to grade the film opening as I hadn't had much practice at it.
• There weren't any establishing shots in my preliminary task. We made sure we included establishing shots in our film opening. 

Teamwork was also key in making our film opening. The preliminary task was eye-opening because I originally pictured it as being very different (and not as good as the final sequence was). While planning and shooting the preliminary task, I learned to work together with my group. Tasks could be split up and problems could be solved more easily. We pointed out problems to each other and worked together to make the sequence better. This was something that I remembered and really took advantage of for the film opening project. I made sure that everything we did was decided on as a group and that everyone was able to input their ideas. We weren't afraid to point out flaws in each other's ideas and this meant we avoided lots of problems that may have arisen later on if we hadn't communicated and worked together as much as we did. Most importantly, working closely with my group made the task more enjoyable and motivated me to work harder on it. The final sequence is something that we worked together to create and we're all pleased with it.