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

So in comparison to the preliminary task to our main task the preparation was much more organized. Because of that we did not know exactly what to expect from out location and if something unexpected would happened we had to plan everything in much more depth. The whole plot was written on paper while we also had our storyboarding as well as an extra paper involving how the different scenes and etc should be frames, timed and lighted. This was not done before when we did our preliminary task and was something we realized we would have gained better organisation from and was therefore done when doing our main task. The storyboarding was also given much more time in preparation during our main task since we learnt from the preliminary task that this was one of the most important tools used during the day.

Since our main task did not included any dialogue and was instead driven by visual effects the storyboarding was now even more important than during the day we did our preliminary task. The mise en scene and planning of props was also given great consideration since the focus is more on the action and the visuals. Therefore we also choose our actors more carefully since we knew that it was the characters that were going to affect and give the right impression to the audience. So compared to how our preliminary task was organized and planed, it taught us what was important during the day and what we might be needing and missing. This also developed the way we planned the main task in the end, it gave us a greater depth in planning and better result then what we achieved during the preliminary task.

The use of camera was therefore also approved compared to what was performed during the day of our preliminary task. When we were filming the preliminary task we only used wide shots mostly, also doing the whole thing in one shot and then doing minor things we thought would look good in close-ups. This is compared to the main task a big difference in the use of camera, the majority of shots used in our main tasks was separate shots and was most often just close-ups (this also gave more of a challenge when editing). Also when filming the main task we did not spend as much time finding the right framing since we were now more experienced but also thanks to good planning. We were also focusing on the effects of the shots in the main task since the match cut was a big importance to our product which was also a technical aspect that had been improved since the preliminary task. Since we also had a better idea of what we could achieve by editing we also knew how to make the continuity of the shots better then when we did with our preliminary task. When we filmed our preliminary task we also had problems with the 180 degree rule and in fact broke it so now when we were doing the main task we had a better idea of what we were doing and also had more control over things that was happening. Therefore we did not break the 180 degree rule since we learnt from our mistake last time.

The use of sound was not one of the things that the preliminary task was focusing on and therefore we were manly using recorded dialogue and just keeping to the continuity of sound, we only had one sound effect which was a mobile phone sound. So in comparison to the use of sound in our main task there is a big difference, first of all most parts of the sound in our main task is taken from the sound track pro and was therefore much more work compared to the preliminary task. The use of sound was very important for use so that we would be able to achieve the right emotions and tension that we wanted. The sound effects used in the main task was therefore in much more depth than in the preliminary task some things that we used in the main task was: Changing the level of sound in some of the sound clips, using the method of sounds fading in and out, speeding or slowing down some of the sound and much more. During our main task I would say that 50 percent of the time was taking to do sound and sound effect compared to the preliminary task which we only used about 15 percent of the time to do sound.

As I mentioned before the use of editing during our main task was much more challenging since each shot was separate and in need to cut everything together into one piece while we had finished long shots during our preliminary task. Therefore the use of editing and the final cut pro program was much more challenging when editing our main task. We were now in the position of having to think everything through much more such as continuity, plot etc. Therefore more time was also spent on editing our main task and we actually did around three different sequences before we came out with our finished product. So the editing work done for our main task compared to the preliminary task was therefore much more in depth both in planning and challenging in our skills of editing. For example we were using techniques such as laterally reversing some of the shots, speeding up and slowing down the pace of the shots and more which was not used in the preliminary task.

Overall the production of the main task and the preliminary task were very different since the main task was much more challenging and in my opinion giving us greater and more technical skills useful in the future.

In the pictures below you can see how different techniques we were using for the different product, the preliminary task (left picture) is showing and over shoulder shot since there is a conversation going on while our main task (right picture) is showing a single shot. This can be seen through out both of the products.