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

Our preliminary task:


Our final film opening:


The preliminary task involved filming and editing a character entering a room and exchanging dialogue with another character, focusing on the principles of continuity to create a seamless narrative. This was good preparation for creating our film opening, as we understood the basics of how to film and edit a sequence that made sense.

Pre-production
The preliminary task was good practice for planning:

Preliminary storyboard

Preliminary shooting schedule

From this I gained a better understanding of ways to plan a film, which was useful when creating our opening when a lot more effort went into planning:

Storyboard: this one is more detailed than for our prelim - different colours are different shot types, so we could ensure a variety of shot types and have a clearer idea of our film before shooting

Shoot board, using shots from the animatic - this included actors/props needed, location and how long it would take so we knew exactly what would be needed for each shot

Floor plan, so we could be aware of space - more important in the actual film brief due to lighting kit as well as camera

As well as this and the animatic we had several drafts of a script, props lists, a location reccie, more research into music, audience etc. and a test shoot and rough edit. Through this I learned how intensive and time-consuming planning can be and how much is required for a project to be successful. I realised how much thought goes into filmmaking before any of the production takes place.

Production

For the preliminary task there were some issues with match on action:

As you can see, Brandon's arms were folded in one shot and open in the next. We wanted to avoid this kind of error in our opening and so we made sure for the film brief that we would plan not just the actors' dialogue but their body language too.

The gif above also demonstrates shot-reverse-shot and over-the-shoulder (OTS) shots. The prelim showed us that this was a good way to shoot conversations, which was useful when shooting our opening:

Doing the preliminary task, we learned about the importance of continuity e.g. the 180-degree rule and match on action, and I learned how to edit a sequence that flowed and made sense.

Post-production

Adobe Premiere Pro was used for both the prelim and the main film brief, but we used it to do a lot more for the final edit.

In progression to the final product I learned how to use most of this editing software (except Livetype - this was done by Brandon). Editing our film opening gave me a better understanding than the prelim of not only how to use this software but how much effort is required for the film to be of a high standard.

I also learned about the limitations of editing - you can't fix everything in post-production. The test shoot showed us that if you break the principles of continuity (we had broken the 180-degree rule) there is no way to fix this in editing:

Breaking the 180-degree rule

Another limitation I became aware of is how we were unable to fix the problem of background noise. This is frustrating because our opening seems less professional as a result.

If I were to re-do the project, I would:

- Shoot the dialogue between the two characters in a better location so our film would not be too affected by background noise

- Be more prepared for the fact that the project takes up a lot of time

- Understand that the final product, no matter how much effort goes into it, will most likely not be completely perfect and so not be so stressed about this

- Try and gain a better understanding of how to use Adobe Audition and Livetype rather than rely on Brandon to mostly work on sound and titles

- Get audience feedback throughout the project and then use this to give us more ideas on how to appeal to them

Overall, however, I think our project was successful. The opening did, for the most part, appeal to our audience, we didn't break the rules of continuity in the final shoot, it made sense and apart from the sound at the end, it was of a (hopefully) high standard. It was also successful in the sense that it gave me a much better understanding of the filmmaking process and a greater appreciation for how much effort goes into filmmaking. In future projects I will already know and understand the planning and production process and so because it won't be an entirely new experience, I will be able to improve this and know what to expect.