Evaluation - Q7

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

I have made a lot of progress from the preliminary task I did a couple of months ago at the beginning of this project. In my preliminary task, the shots we did and other filming techniques weren't very sophisticated and the way we edited the film didn't make the film look very convincing and professional. Comparing this to the final film that my partner and I produced, I feel as if I have developed my skills much more with the filming techniques and editing software that we used to plan and create a much more convincing media product.

In my preliminary task, the titles that we created were very small and the typography and colour made it very difficult to see over the busy shots that we did. After experimenting with LiveType and Final Cut it allowed my partner and I to learn how to make our titles just right so they were easily readable and more sophisticated with the use of transitions and different effects but also still follow the codes and conventions of supernatural horror film titles. Using different effects on the titles and changing the size and typography of the titles and overlaying them on the shots during our film opening are all skills that I developed when creating the final media product.

I also developed some skills in editing sound and music when producing my final film opening. In my preliminary task I didn't know how to trim, cut and adjust the volume of the sound that we used and so the incidental music throughout the film was very loud, meaning that you couldn't really hear what the characters were saying and the music came in at the wrong times due to me not knowing how to cut and trim the tracks. This made the film sound unprofessional and unplanned. In my final film opening however, I developed the skills to adjust the volume of the sound tracks at different times to fit with the plot throughout the whole opening and I also learnt how to cut and trim the tracks so I could add different sounds and music within the film without making it sound unprofessional. I didn't add any sound effects in my preliminary but I did in my final film which I think improved the whole sound of the film as it emphasised certain important points throughout the opening such as the dripping of the tap and the wind blowing outside the house as these are sounds that we couldn't create just through the filming process.

Some of the continuity of my preliminary task and overall dialogue isn't very good. In the two shots where Megan is opening the door, in one she opens it slowly but in the other it opens really quickly which reduces the professional look of the film as it makes it look really unplanned and rushed. Also, when me and Megan talk in the preliminary task, you can see me laughing when I shouldn't be which therefore again, makes it look really unprofessional and ruined the tense atmosphere that we wanted to create in the task. In the final film opening, I made sure that we re-filmed anything that made the opening look unprofessional which included any continuity issues or other parts of the plot that just reduces the realistic look of the opening which could have affected the ominous atmosphere that we wanted to maintain throughout.

During the preliminary task, I worked with four people which I felt worked well in the filming process however it did have some downfalls when it came to editing and getting everybody in the same place at the same time when it came to working on it out of lessons. I considered this when it came to choosing whether I wanted to work by myself or in a group when it came to my final project. I decided to work as a pair as I wanted some support when it came to the filming process as I thought that maybe it would have proved too difficult for just myself as I had no previous experience other than the preliminary task. I thought that a pair would be the right number of people as it is much easier to get two people in one place to work on the project than four and as the person I picked is one of my friends, it made it easier to work on the project together and to get to filming locations together. I also chose someone who I knew wouldn't let me down in any way throughout the project and I knew wouldn't distract me away from my work and so we could focus on the task in hand.

Finally, in my final film opening I also wanted to include some more advanced and more of a range of different shots. I did this by including a canted shot and using some pans and also zooming in on different objects which showed some more skill and made the opening look generally more interesting to watch. In the preliminary task, we used some close up shots but this is all we really decided to go through with as any others we found too difficult to create within the time frame we had and this was mainly due to the lack of planning. In the final opening film, I made sure we did a lot more planning to make sure we had plenty of time to create the shots we wanted and ensure that all of the shots that we did were of I high calibre of quality. The addition of zooms and pans also made the film look much more professional and also added to the suspense and atmosphere we wanted to create for the audience.