7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the main task?

I put together a quick video using animoto showing a few photos that represent a few of the stages of filming the final project.

media

At the beginning of the year, I had never done any editing, filming or been part of a media production before. So when making the preliminary task I feel I took a backseat because I didn't have the confidence in the subject to take the lead or give knowledgeable information to improve our short film. However I did learn how to use the camcorders and the tripods when doing our preliminary task, which set me in good stead for filming the majority of our final project.


Were there any mistakes in our preliminary?

When watching our preliminary task back, I noticed we had a few issues with continuity. We filmed our character moving throughout the same location, however when watching it back you notice that the movement and location does not flow. So when making the final film I was constantly thinking about making sure every aspect was continuous, including clothing, hair, make up and location.

Another issue I noticed was the quality of the footage. We used a standard camcorder to get the clips for our preliminary task. I noticed the footage was not the best quality, it was slightly fuzzy. So I had already decided that when making our final film we should use a DSLR because of the amazing quality it produces.

My understanding of editing techniques really has improved as a result of recognising my previous mistakes. I found it really interesting learning how to use different effects to make my film look more professional. As a first attempt at editing I am really proud of what I've managed to do with our film in terms of bringing it all together and using different effects to make it more interested. I have invested a lot of time into this project in order to make it the best I can and I feel like at this stage I put everything I knew in to the project.

In terms of planning, storyboarding, creative decision making and camera work I have become a lot stronger in the way I will plan projects in the future. I have learnt a lot this year from my preliminary task and my final project. Originally this year we were going to work in a group of four, were all friends and thought it would be fun to work together because we all had so many amazing ideas. However when moving forward with our project is became apparent that us all having something to do was not going to happen. We all took note of each others ideas but actually incorporating them all into the film was a lot harder than I previously expected. We later decided we were going to split the group, in order to involve everyone's creative ideas. It also gave everyone the opportunity to take a roll in the creative side of production, no one was left with nothing to do at this point.
I have also realised story boarding is very important. When I do my next project I will be sure to plan all my shots and ideas out on a story board first, as I struggled to remember all the shots I needed which then caused difficulties in continuity.

I am really proud of our final movie and I'm proud of myself for all the time and the things I've learnt whilst making this short film.