Evaluation Question 7

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

When working with our prelim, we had to prepare for all stages of productions. These stages were the:

• Pre Production
• Productions 
• Post Production 

Pre Production is the preparation that you make before the actual filming. To prepare for this in both our prelim and thriller, we did the following things:

• Create an effective storyboard - determining storyline and camera shots etc..
• Find a location for filming
• Prepare props,costume and characters

Page 1 of Prelim Storyboard

In our prelim we decided on what the storyline is going to be. We decided on the shots we were going to use by making a storyboard on QuarkExpress. We took a digital camera to take pictures of the shots.  We then imported the images into the software whilst adding a description of what is happening and what the shot it. We also done this in our thriller opening however it was slightly different as we included more detail. The length of the story board was a lot longer than our prelims storyboard. From the prelim I learnt that having a storyboard is helpful when filming a films as you get a reminded of what to do. 

Page 2 of our Storyboard

Part of the thriller Storyboard

During the making of our storyboard for our prelim, we found a location to film the scene which was in college. This was because we only had an hour to film so it would make sense to film in college.  However, when choosing a location for our thriller opening we decided to film at Victoria Park as it was a big open place with crazy mise en scene. Although we did take the pictures in the park outside college, we still had an idea of what the shots were going to be. Our thriller openings filming location is much better than the prelims as it seems more professional and genuine.  From the prelim i learnt that a good filming location is essential if you want your film to seem professional.  

During the making our prelim, we had no props or costume but we had to decide on characters. We had Layla and Nyomi be the characters. However in our thriller opening, we had many props such as earphones, a water bottle, bags and a walking stick. We also had all the characters appearing in the appropriate costumes, the jogger is tracksuits and the old lady in old person clothing. Deciding on what the props, costumes and characters are is crucial as without deciding you are left unprepared this is something i learnt from the prelim. 

Production is when the things you planned at Pre Production are done. This would include:

• Camera work - Filming, Rule of Thirds, Consistent Lighting and corrects shots according to storyboard
• Collecting Sound

Close up - Prelim

Over the shoulder - Prelim

In our prelim, we had many problems such as having really bad lighting and constant background noise from other students. The lighting was really bad at the start of our prelim, it was extremely dark and hard to see the character. Also the sound which also got recorded disrupted the flow of our prelim as at one point its nice and calm, then you hear a bunch of college kids screaming. However in our thriller opening, we filmed in broad daylight as we knew that we could edit the footage to make it seem like a different time of the day. Also as sound wasn't that crucial to our opening, we didn't really focus but when we were editing, we did use the sound so we used what we recorded naturally from filming. This was also reiterated on the day we recorded the old ladies first part, but when going over the footage it was too dark and you couldn't see a thing. From these experiences i learnt that its best to film in a bright places so you know you can see the characters and you will have the ability to edit to make it seem darker. Also  i learnt that sound is best to be recorded naturally when you filming the shots.

Worms eye view - Thriller

In our prelim, we had a variety of shots but when compared to our thriller opening, well there is no comparison. Our thriller used panning, tracking, worms eye view and so much more but in our prelim we used none of these. We had basic shots like over the shoulder, close ups and a bit more. However in both the prelim and thriller opening, we stuck to the rule of thirds pretty well as all the shots had good framing. From the prelim I learnt that it is good to have a huge variety of shots so the audience is always intrigued. 

Post productions mainly consists of editing all the stuff done in the productions stage, this consists of:

• Putting together clips and making them seem consistent - Match and cross cuts, Reverse shots
• Adding the title sequence
• Adding sound

Match Cut 1

Match Cut 2 

During this stage, we had the chance to go over all our footage in both the prelim and thriller. We realised that some of our footage is too dark to see so we had to reshoot it. We didn't reshoot the prelim as it was about learning but we reshot the scenes in the thriller as it would be stupid not to. I learnt that its best to film in broad daylight and that make sure to have enough time to reshot. Once we got all the correct footage, we started to edit. In the prelim all we did is put the clips together and add titles. In our thriller opening, the editing was a lot more long as we h

Match cut in Thriller with close ups

ad to crop all the shots due to out split screen effect. We also added tonnes of titles but we decided to go for a professional look. We created this look by having the names of the person  bigger than the job. We also added sound to our thriller. 

From the editing phase, I was able to increase my editing skills as i learnt to use split screens and make opening seems more professional.

Editing Phase

Overall from both of these experiences, i learnt how to create impeccable shots from the camera, use sound to create an atmosphere, how editing makes a professional opening and how lighting, planning is important.