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

My knowledge and skills from both shooting and editing standpoints have improved massively since the preliminary task and this is shown by the improved quality of my work in the full product when compared to the prelim.

Comparison of the Briefs:

Prelim Brief: Create a short continuity sequence in which a character opens a door, crosses a room and sits down opposite another character where they then exchange a couple lines of dialogue. Include match on action, shot/reverse/shot and the 180° rule.

Main Brief: Produce a 2 minute opening sequence for a fiction film with a clear sense of who the target audience is. Include titles throughout, a copyright-free soundtrack and sound effects, some form of continuity and display clear genre conventions through character, theme, story, action, mise-en-scene, dialogue, sound, camera, editing, style etc.

As you can see the main brief was much more intensive and difficult than the prelim brief, however I still felt that I performed better in the main task as the prelim prepared me quite well. From the prelim I learnt several lessons with regards to how I should approach the main task and this helped me improve the quality of my work. For example, from a shooting standpoint I learnt to always film the whole movement to avoid continuity errors, and also to film a master shot as a back up option in case there is a continuity error. From an editing standpoint I learnt to always rename your shots first as it makes the rest of the editing process much faster and much more efficient.

Pre-Production:

The table below shows the differences in the planning process.

For the main brief we went into much more detail with the planning and did much more intensive research as from the prelim we learnt that a lack of planning leads to a lot of wasted time later on as your are unsure of what to do. Additionally, the prelim planning process gave us experience in the planning stage so we knew where to improve when it came to the main task.

Production:

The basic principles were the same across both tasks, for example we followed the same continuity rules. However, the production for each was very different as we were able to experiment a lot more, for example we experimented with shaky handheld shots in the main task whereas we weren't able to in the prelim.

Similarity Example:


This displays the continuity rule of match on action in the prelim


This displays the continuity rule of match on action in the main task

The match on action was much smoother in the main task than in the prelim as I felt in the prelim there was a slight jump cut which we were able to avoid in the main task.

Difference Example:


Taken from the main task

In the main task we had more freedom and time to experiment with different types of shots that we were unable to try out in the prelim. Above is an example of a shaky handheld shot which worked very well in our main task but we were unable to experiment with in the prelim. This was a very tricky shot, however because we had much more time we were able to shoot a lot more takes until we had one we were happy with.

Post Production:

We used the same software for editing in both projects but in the main task we were able to take advantage of more editing tools in Adobe Premiere than in the prelim. For example, I learnt how to use a key-frame zoom, how to implement special effects and how to grade our shots.


A keyframe zoom from the main task


An example of where I implemented special effects

In terms of what the prelim taught us for editing there were three key learning points:

1) Always name your shots as it saves time later on when you're looking for the shot you wish to work with.
2) Before doing any advanced editing e.g. special effects/grading, have all your shots roughly cut down and in the timeline.
3) When placing shots in the timeline place them on alternate tracks so that everything is easier to move, edit and you avoid messing with the wrong shot.

In conclusion, the progression from the preliminary task to the full product has seen a huge increase in my technical ability with both the shooting equipment and editing software. Compared to when we did the prelim task I feel much more confident in my ability to produce a quality media product and am proud of not only myself, but also my group as we have all improved together.