Looking back at our preliminary task I think I have learnt so much. Being a novice to all of the equipment in our preliminary task our footage was not of the best quality. Just being out with the camera I was much more aware of what shots I wanted to produce. Our planning was much better so we had storyboards showing all of the shots we wanted before we went out there to do it so it was much more organized. Instead of going out with a camera and making up footage we went out with ideas already in our heads, which made obtaining the footage much simpler and quicker. Also we were aware of the amount of footage that we had to obtain, even though the finished product would only be two minutes long we were aware that we would need at least three takes of every shot so we could pick and choose what footage to use. In the end we ended up with almost 40 minutes of footage to pick and choose from for a two-minute opening so we had many options of what to put in and what not to put in. I tried to put in a larger number of shots in the media production to really show off my ability with the camera and this did not occur to me in the preliminary task. In the preliminary task we hade very little footage and found it hard to make a convincing media product, however as my skills progressed we included much more effective shots and also took the shots more times in order to ensure that we would have all the footage that we needed. This was not something that occurred to us to do in the preliminary task. This shows how our skills have developed.
When it got to our editing you could see the difference. I was much more professional, putting in much less childish transitions and letting the footage do the work rather than putting in transitions and slowing down the footage. We needed to include less transitions in our media product as we wanted quick sharp footage, and with a fade to black rather than either a cut straight to black of more footage straight after it would have slowed the footage down, loosing lots of the tension that we had previously built up. Also the shots are much more flowing, allowing the audience to staying interested rather than drifting away because it was either too confusing, or much too slow. I went with a much choppier editing style in order to keep the audience hooked. This progressed from out preliminary task as we used some awful transitions that make the footage look comical rather than serious. We worked out that it is better to use many different types of shot rather than a few shots as not only does it show off our ability, it also shows location and mise-en-scene. We developed our editing skills massively from the preliminary task in this respect.
With our planning, we had specific storyboards so we wasted no time on our shoots. These were not something that we did at all on our preliminary task. We also did extensive research into different locations for the shoot in order to give our footage the most realistic feeling that we could obtain. When filming our preliminary task this was something that we didn’t have to take into consideration. We developed our organization and planning skills massively from our preliminary task.
We had to deal with various problems throughout our shooting also. We had the problem of the lighting that was solved by editing the footage on the Mac. We also found it hard to stick to the 180degree rule as we were compromised by space as to where the camera had to go, however we changed certain shots in order to make sure we stuck to it. Finally we also struggled with getting the footage because of natural light. Our locations from the outskirts of Bourne to just outside Grantham was a 35 minute car drive and obviously getting everyone down there, props and also doing it in times where we had light was a challenge, however we all gave up our free time in order to make sure we obtained the footage that we required.
Making sure that the music that we had chosen fit in with how quick our footage was also proved to be difficult, it took hours of editing it on iMovie and GarageBand to make sure that it gave a tense effect and also ran with the footage so it would crescendo when the footage was at its most tense.
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