Question 7

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

The brief we were given for the preliminary task was;

A continuity task involving filming and editing:

- Character opens the door

- Walks across the room

- Sits opposite other character and exchanges a couple of lines of dialogues

It should contain different continuity techniques

The brief for the main task was;

To produce a 2 minute opening sequence for a fiction film, it must include:

- Titles throughout

- Some form of copyright free soundtrack

- Evidence of understanding of continuity editing

Pre-Production

When planning our production, there were several things learnt from the preliminary task that we put into practice. To avoid any problems with our location, we went on a reccie to see whether it was suitable for what we wanted to film there and to find out if we had permission to film there. We also realised that organisation was key to a successful production – this meant all the planning and research was completely up to scratch before we went of f to shoot. To achieve this we had arranged group meetings to makes sure what we all needed to do in order to succeed with the production.

Production

The preliminary task helped us a lot when it came to shooting our production. Realising that time management was important, we planned out our shoot days well, knowing how much time we had to do what – it also helped that we knew how to use all the equipment so we didn’t waste time trying to figure it out. We also learned in the preliminary task that a master shot was important when it came to editing – it was always useful to cut back to if there was a continuity problem such as a break in the 180 degree rule.

Post-Production

When it came to editing our sequence, we already knew how to use the software we were using – this helped in conserving our time and meant we could learn more advanced techniques. It also helped us to see who was stronger in what place – meaning we could save time when assigning roles.

Working as a team

Throughout the project, listening to one another and working together was the most important factor to making our final sequence. A mistake made in the preliminary task was that one of our group members had made a mistake whilst filmingand the whole team broke down because of lack of communication. This experience showed me how important it was to talk to your group and listen to what they have to say - this way if there are problems, you can avoid arguments.