Evaluation Final

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

Preliminary Task

In conclusion, I feel that my product was a relative success, and I don't feel it could've been without an initial preliminary task where I learnt firstly, how to use the camera to full effect, it gave me an idea of how each shot will look like and how it can be achieved, and how problems like how much space can be included within a shot and how I would need to use the small space, to it's full effect. In my preliminary task 'Interrogation', I learnt how to use the adobe software to it's full extent, and I used the same effect on the colour of the font in my preliminary title, as I did in my final thriller piece. I also included similar shots in my preliminary as I did in my final piece also, using similar angles like high angle shots and point of view shots. It also allowed me to gain a perspective as to where I'd want the location of my film. As we filmed in a school, there was almost no tension created at all, and I felt this was because it wasn't a personal location, so to atone for this, i set my main thriller piece in a home location.

Developed Skills

Before the preliminary task, I had never used the editing software as I had never previously had media as a subject, so therefore I had very limited knowledge on how the editing software operated, So the skill I feel I had most developed was the ability to have a smooth

transition from one shot to the next, and I learnt from my preliminary how important continuity is, and so I feel also I developed the ability to deeply analyse a shot before I filmed it, and take into consideration all the factors that may hinder the continuity of the shot, and overcome the issues before they confounded the following shot. Also, taking into consideration the logic of each shot, besides continuity, because it is easy to film many different shots without taking into consideration that they would flow easily in the editing process, so thinking of issues like the 180 degree rule and reverse shots and going through the logic process of it they would actually work before thinking about how the shot looks. I could have an excellent shot, but if it doesn't fit the rest of the shots and flow coherently, the
shot is useless. So going through this thought process is a skill I feel I have developed greatly. 

Problems

As I progressed in filming my thriller, I encountered a few problems, but these were easily overcome through re-shooting and the editing process. For example, the unreliability of the camera batteries became a recurring issue, as we often had a restricted time frame in which we had to shoot, and it was often between 1 and 2 hours as it was during winter, and time in the light was scarce. So I felt I had enough time to delay the filming, so I could combat the issue of daylight, and in terms of the camera batteries, I always had two batteries in case one of them ran out quickly, and always had them both fully charged in order to cope with the issue as best I possibly could. I found though, that with the previous filming that had been done in the rushed time frame, with a camera that could've died at any moment, I found that when it came to edit my film, there was a distinct lack of continuity, For example, My main actor, Alex Coburn had a tie on in one shot, then he took it off in the following shot, and then in the next shot after that it was back on, and in another instance, upon filming on different days, he was also wearing different clothing and these errors were caused because I wasn't able to think through shots as much as I could have done before filming them, so I decided I needed to re-shoot the entirety of the film, and unfortunately it was left later than what was ideal, but I overcame the time issue with extensive work whenever was possible, and I managed to edit my film exactly how I wanted it, in plenty of time to evaluate the entire process in detail.

Another issue that we had to overcome was my safety upon climbing into his loft in order to film a shot directly over the head of the main character, there was an issue with my safety as I could have easily fallen, but we took effective precautions in that I had a stable ladder to climb into the loft with, and I had a mate to lay on with grip to ensure that I wasn't to fall.