Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
My previous
experience with filming and editing before my AS and the preliminary task
was very limited. Although taking photography at GCSEs,
my knowledge of filming using the cameras was very limited for
example when in photography we could shoot and take photos in both
portrait and landscape but in media and filming this was not the
case as you can only film in landscape. My knowledge of
the cameras we used for filming was also very little therefore I had
to get used the features such as the focus, changing the white balance and
depth of fields and iso settings I also learned that all data is
stored separately an there is a different setting
for filming on the dslr, keeping videos and photos separately. The
extra equipment we used was also knew to me such as tripods, go pros
and handheld axis' therefore through my AS I learned to
use these efficiently. 
When I was
first introduced to the terminology there wasn't many words that
I already knew the meanings of, I knew what the depth
of field was, genre and the meaning of narrative enigma but words such as
long shot, medium shot and close ups were all to and I quick got used to
including them in my work and when talking about my filming.
During our
prelim task we learnt techniques that benefited us greatly with our
future edited and filming. The prelim was a continuity
task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room
and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then
exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue and help to demonstrate match on
action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule in our work. The task helped
us understand continuity editing and helped us understand what to do and
what not to do when it came to filming on our own, as we wouldn’t have
much guidance at this point.
We had little planning for the prelim and didn't
look into any other texts to help us develop our ideas, we had
a screenplay to follow but no screenplays or shot lists, there was no
casting involved only the people that were not filming helped
out by acting. We learnt how to import all of our media from the SD card onto
the laptop and onto final cut so we could start editing. When it came to
edited the prelim, very basic edited skills were used as using final cut pro
for the first time was very daunting therefore we only used tools
such as the select tool , zooming , blade and positioning tool.
When finished editing we learnt how to export the film into
a master film therefore saving in onto the laptop.
The swede was our second experience filming with the
cameras and then editing with final cut pro. This was were we took the Paddy
Consindine film Tyrannosaur and changed the opening from a WARP style
opening into a Working title opening, to do this we looked at the typical
audience and features of a working title film, for a British film this
included suits, high class school setting, posh accents and references to
things such as the races. This was our first experience of looking
into past texts and audiences and it helped us understand the
uses and helpfulness of this. When it came to planning for the swede we
were all given a responsibility, for example I was given the task of creating
all the screenplays for all the scenes. Others were given roles such as
shot lists, props and director. This helped us work as a team and build
team work skills as we all had to work together a rely on each other to
produce exactly what we needed to fulfill the task, it also gave
us knowledge of all the preparation that shoots need in able to take place,
it helped us understand what screenplays, shot lists
and storyboards were and how they benefited production.
We all took turns at filming the opening. This was
the first time that we had films without direction from a teacher, it
helped us get to terms with the equipment and to get used to how
the camera works. While filming we were thinking about the different
camera shots that we could use, the shot types (long shot, medium close up,
extreme close up etc.) and the depth of field of the shot this
helped the whole group feel more comfortable when filming. When
it came to editing the swede although we had edited the prelim out knowledge was
still very limited of final cut pro, we started off just simply editing it ,
using the cut tools and the section tool to cut and reposition the clips.
Once the rough cut was completed we were taught how to include sound
effects and titles in our opening, this helped the swede to have
a more humorous and was a skill we could use in our
future coursework.
From my swede I learnt how to use final cut pro
more efficiently, I learnt that using a tripod created a much
more professional and sturdy look to the shots and what screenplays, shot lists
and story boards were and that they were very effective and helped a lot when
it came to filming.
When we began the production of our openings, all
the techniques we had already learnt became very use
full. The first planning we did for the opening was
gaining information on the genre we wanted to our opening to be,
we had already be told lots of website that could help us
with this information from our swede and this came in
very useful. I choice the genre, teen murder of black murder
as existing texts such as scream queens and heathers appealed to
me. I also wanted to include feminist views toward the
stereotypes of women for example 10 things i hate about you was a
good example or a film that included both stereotypical and counter
typical female protagonist. After coming up with basic ideas i
started to think about the type of cast that would be good for our opening,
then we could start to storyboard out ideas knowing that we had a
dedicated cast.
We the started to story board our ideas, basing some of the ideas
on theme demonstrated in some of our previous texts, for example
the idea of having the protagonist along and the antagonist in a
group of girls , this idea was based on mean girls. I then started to develop
out ideas and created the shot list and screen plays, production script and
created a production schedule (weather dependent) so that we knew when I would
be filming and it helped me be more organized. Once I had done this is started
to think about locations that
would work well with the genre and audience of my opening, I knew that I wanted
a graveyard and as there was one in my village I knew that I would be using
that so then I only had to think about locations for the other scenes, I choose
to set some of the opening in my school because it was very convenient and I
thought that as my audience is mainly teen girls I though it would create an
approachable and relatable scene. My other scenes were set in two girls bedroom
and on paths.
When I started filming as a photography student the
quality of the shots were very important to me, I wanted it to be the best I
could possible be given the weather conditions I was filming in. When I was
shooting the graveyard scene I changed the white balance on the camera
regularly to ensure that the colors looked as good as they could be, I tried to
take as many different shot types as I possibly could these included:
Aerial Shot
Arc Shot
Bridging Shot
Close Up
Medium Shot
Long Shot
Deep Focus
Establishing
Shot
Handheld Shot
Low Angle Shot
High Angle Shot
Over-The-Shoulder
Shot
As I had previous learnt about these shots while
shooting the other two tasks it was fairly easy for me to find ways of
incorporating them into my shots. For example when Sarah is looked at
the girls from a distance i got an over the shoulder shot, this also gave
the sense that we were looking at exactly what she
was looking at. As well as the white balance and camera shots i also
worked in different iso setting, this gave different depth
of fields and therefore many of the shots had different parts of
the shot in focus which I really liked as I thought it gave variety.
In conclusion both my camera skills and editing
skill have developed immensely from the prelim task to now after the
opening. I have learnt how to plan shoots effectually through the use of screenplays
and storyboards etc. and also how to use may tools in final
cut pro to create a professional and neat finish to my videos. Finally
my knowledge of cinematography and different ways of
composing shots has greatly improved which I hope I
have demonstrated in my opening.
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