Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I started the preliminary task not even knowing where the record button was on the camera, and since then i think the main thing i have learnt is how to use the equipment and i have gained a lot of confidence in using the equipment, and don't hesitate to use it. Through the preliminary task i learnt several things, like setting the camera up on the tripod, considering how to record the sound, and the lighting required. It was a good starting task, as there was little pressure, and we didn't have to think of a compilex plot. We focussed just on useful shots like shot reverse shot, and it was a really helpful introduction into filming. Without it, i wouldn't have considered even the thought of needing to record the sound, or thinking the camera needed a tripod to make the shot straight so i personally found this very beneficial.
PLANNING: For our final film, a lot of planning went into it andI didn't even realise how many aspects needed to be considered to film a 2 minute opening. But for our prleimary task we didn't need to plan a plot or script or shots, except for making sure we tried out a range of shots. So since then, i planned much more for the final film. Firstly the plot took a while to come up with, and to finalise so that it fit within 2 minutes. Then we needed to get an actress and actor, which was much trickier than we thought. The location was easy to find as it was just at Evies house, so we were confident in that as there no chance it wouldn't be available, unlike if we used a rented venue. We had a clear idea of what the film wanted to look like, but even though we planned thoroughly i found it interesting hiow many shots changed during filming, as its easy to plan on a piece of paper but when your actually filming in they location with the actress, aspect like the light affects how the shots are filmed. SO sine the preliminary task, planning has been much more prominent in the process of making the film, but even when we started filming we hadn't planned every aspect of it. Firstly, when drawing up the storyboard we didn't know what Evies room look like or the floor plan of the house, so drawing where the man would be waking and which cupboards the girl would be hitting was hard to put into the story bard. Also a mojor fault when we started filming was that on our first day of filming i forgot to bring the storyboard, so although we had a good idea of what each shot was like, this meant some shots were completely different meaning we had to redo the storyabord. Also we definitely did not plan for our first actress Lily to drop out last minute, so this meant we had to go slightly against our research and planning into what our character was meant to look like.
CAMERAWORK: As i said before, i didn't know how to even press record on the camera, so the prelimary task helped me learn how to use it and to make sure I'm on all the settings and that I'm filming on the SD card. I also learnt about different shots, and i hadnt thought about how a variety of shots is needed to make a film less monotonous and more interesting. I think we incorporated a good amount of different shots in our film, and even experimented with hand held shots in the forest,which i was slightly worried would look messy, but i actually really liked the shot and think we did pretty well making it not too shaky. We also used shots such as high angle, low angle , mid/close up and shot reverse shot. Since the preliminary task we also researched similar media products, and this also helped when planning the shots, as I learnt what different shots portray and for example how a high angle makes the person in the shot look vulnerable.
SOUND: In the preliminary task we tried using the digital audio recorder and the boom, but didn't use this in final cut and just used the inbuilt recorder as I thought this was what you normally do, but it wasn't until I tried doing this with our film Stolen, where I realised the sound on the recorder was a much better quality. When filming our final film, luckily most of our shots were inside, so we didn't have to worry about wind or atmospheric sound. But sometimes in the house there were mirrors so we had to make sure we weren't in the shot. One problem that arised, was sometimes the microphone wasn't close enough to the actors so the sound wasn't good enough, for examp0le when the male actor picks up the remote and puts it down again, there wasn't sound of the remote being put down so it seemed disjointed and wrong, so we had to use sound of an object dropping that we had already recorded and I think we dealt with this problem quite well. The biggest problem was that when we were filming the forest scene it was so windy that even after all our attempts, the sound was not useable. So we had to refilm the atmospheric sound another day but that also meant we had to refilm the females heavy breathing and put it on top. We had to properly edit and fit the breaths as at first they didn't fit with the clip, and preferably I would've liked to refilm this. The music to put on top of the film was a problem from the start as at first we didn't know anyone who could make the music, and when we finally did they didn't have enough time to. So the music was left quite to the last minute but we found some copyright free music that by the end I was actually quite pleased with. Another thing I was actually really pleased with was the decision to add the sound of a pencil in the ident, as I think this makes it look much more realistic as I've seen similar things before in other media products.
MISE EN SCENE: In the preliminary task I didn't even consider the mise en scene for the film as it was more of a practice, but when planning for Stolen, and after watching other media products I realises the effect mise en scene can portray and how it can add to a film. From the start of planning Stolen, I had a good picture of what I wanted the characters to look like and what they would be wearing. I think we went quite stereotypical with the costumes and the props, to make the girl look childish and vulnerable, but as we were filming just the opening I wanted there to be a clear sign to the audience that she is vulnerable, and think it worked quite well. Even though our film is very realistic, we still wanted an aspect of creepiness so we put lots of kids toys and stuffed toys on bed, which was a subtle detail that I think added to the overall look of the house the girl was trapped in. I didn't experiment much with the colour and light aspect of mise en scene, as there weren't any shots where the colour didn't seem to fit with the mood, and due to using natural light from one window, this creates a blue shadowy look which I was pleased with. Although we used artificial lights in the preliminary task, we didn't end up using any lights in our final product. When we started filming we were planning on using lights, but we forgot to bring the light so had to work with what we had. However, we actually preferred the natural light as we filmed it during the day. However when we had to refilm with our new actress the light was slightly dimmer, which didn't give the shots a clean crisp effect like they did with the first actress so I found this very frustrating as I loved the look of the shots with the first woman actress.
EDITING: As we had to include continuity editing in the preliminary task I felt like I got a good feel for editing on FinalCut Pro from the start, and knew most of what I needed to know for the final product. But through practice, I learnt things like how to do a sound bridge and how to put in titles and similarly to mise en scene, the effect it can have on the film. We used it for effect when shes running in the forest by using high speed editing. I also used a lot of one shots of the girl, to make her look alone and vulnerable. I think we did the continuity well in our film, and I enjoyed timing shots where the foot prints had to be in sync and think I did well in noticing when they weren't.
Overall I feel like I have learnt a HUGE amount since the preliminary task, as now if I needed to refilm something I would think twice before putting a camera on a tripod with confidence. The prelimary task was a very beneficial introduction into equipment and through practice, I think I progressed in skill and confident when it came to my final product.
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