question 7

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


Starting from the preliminary task to the main task I believe I have learnt a lot.
The prelim task was much easier than the main task because our it was very short and our main focus for it was the continuity, however the main task was more complicated than the prelim task because it needed much more thought and planning.

The first stage was PRE PRODUCTION. This was all the planning and research before filming. For the preliminary task this was simple as we only had a short time to film and therefore we did not have time to plan too much. Although it was short it still showed me roughly how it would be when it came to the main task. For the pre production we had to make
- A shooting schedule
- A storyboard
- A script

The shooting schedule was so that we knew where to shoot first and the timing, the storyboard was useful as it showed us all the shots that were needed and it gave them in detail, and the script was given to the cast to rehearse so that they would know what to say when we were filming.
We realised that the planning was essential to the filming because without the planning we would not know what to do when it came to the filming.
The planning was easier for the prelim task than for the main task, because much more detail was needed for the main task. At first we thought that we were going to make a drama film and after a lot of research we made 2 different drama stories and after public research we realised that we should change our genre, therefore we changed our genre to horror and we done a lot of research on it and when we made our first draft of the story we had good public feedback therefore we stuck with horror. We made a storyboard and after a few changes we decided that our storyboard was done. Then we made the shooting schedule and then we had to choose the cast, after choosing the cast we set a date for rehearsals, they all turned up and our rehearsals went well.


PRODUCTION
At the preliminary task we could not reshoot to many times as we only had one hour to finish it. When we finished the preliminary task we thought that the main task would also be easy however we were proven wrong on the day of shooting. It took us from 8.30am until 5pm to shoot the main task, and we had to take many at least three good shots to be on the safe side when it came to editing.
However we had the shooting schedule which made it easier for us because everything would go to schedule and we knew what scene we had to film first. We also had a storyboard and therefore we could visualise our shots, and the cast were very co operative and therefore helped a lot.
The process of shooting each shot made everything simple for us, the director would say ‘camera ready, sound ready, cast ready’ name the shot and take and then say ‘action’. We did this for all our shots and then when it came to editing we knew which shot we were looking at and we could just skip the bad shots and go straight to the good shots. On the shooting day we had a lot of people coming through and we had to keep stopping the tape and taking other shots which made it harder for us. Because of this we realised that if we would do this again then we would choose a better location and less busy one to film because we are filming in a school and we can’t interrupt the school day by telling people to go another way because we are filming.


POST PRODUCTION
Editing for the prelim task helped me a lot when it came to the main task because I was aware of how to edit.
Once we had finished editing the prelim task we realised that we had a jump cut therefore we were very aware when it came to the main task, which we had to be careful.
Editing was easier in the prelim task because it was not an opening of a film, however in the main task we had to make sure that everything is continuous and it makes sense with the rest of the film.
For editing we had problems because the whole group would not meet up and work together but we would all come at different times by ourselves, and we would not agree with what the other had edited so we would change it and then the other person would get angry. So we decided that if we wanted this to work we would have to come after school all together and finish it together. That is what we did and then we were all happy by the end.


Form my prelim task to my main task I have learnt that
- It is very important to take more than one good shot
- Pre production is crucial
- The more angles you shoot for one shot the better it is because you have a variety to choose from
- To keep everything to time schedule is very important.
- If you want something to work then the group dynamics have to be very good, you have to all work together as a group.
- You have to know your target audience to actually get a successful film
- The cast have to have rehearsals so that on the day of the filming they know what to do
- You have to take the role of the actor and physically show them what you want them to do, so that they can do it the way you want it and for everything to work out well.