Evaluation Question 7

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 (Stage 1) – The prelim brief was a lot simpler than the film brief mainly due to the fact we didn’t have the same amount of time to complete it. The prelim was just about showing control through the language of film and creating a very short dialogue sequence while involving three important camera techniques which were, the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot and a match on action all in an attempt to create a seamless effect of continuity. This doesn’t give much scope as to what you can do whereas the film brief allowed us to be freer with our decisions. The prelim was practice for the film brief; it was a learning experience so that we could go in to the project with a positive feeling for the process of planning, shooting and editing. The initial approach to the prelim was to start with the planning side of things, for example, getting a location, sorting out actors, a shooting script, storyboard and dialogue. We didn’t have to do research like we did with the film brief as we didn’t pick a specific genre and were not shooting an opening sequence. The prelim task helped us through the process of creating storyboards and shoot scripts which we found out were vital in the role of creating a film or any media product involving the filming process.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING (Stage 2) – There were many differences when it came to planning an actual film opening and planning the prelim task. In order to meet the film brief it was important to carry out extensive research in to genre conventions and film openings which wasn’t really needed with the prelim task. The planning process for the shoots was almost identical however. The process of creating storyboards, shooting scripts, location reccies and organising times and dates for practice shoots and real shoots were exactly the same as what we had done for the preliminary task. Having been through this process really helped it to go smoothly. When doing the prelim we split the jobs of creating storyboards and dialogue up between us, however, when doing the film brief we decided to do it all as a group so that each member of the group understood our idea clearly and the direction it was taking. Although our group didn’t spend enough time on storyboarding by the end of the project we understood just how important it was and how it can make a shoot go much more smoothly.

PRODUCTION (Stage 3) – The production process of the main project was a lot more complex than the preliminary task. The added use of lighting and a viable mise-en-scene made the filming sessions much longer and complicated. The film brief consisted of test shoots, main shoots and re-shoots as opposed to the prelim which was a lot more simple as it was just one main shoot, however, it was good practice as it made us realise that things tend to take a lot longer than you think they will. Also the time limit imposed on the prelim task made it a lot more of a focused session which in a way had its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages were that it was good practice working to a deadline and everyone in the group had to be on task ready to do their job, however, the disadvantages were that we only had one chance to get it right and for the most part once we entered the edit rooms we found out we hadn’t got it right. This did teach us a valuable lesson that you should always shoot more angles than you need and carry on shots so you have some leeway when editing.

POST-PRODUCTION (Stage 4) – The stage of post-production in the film brief was quite different to the post-production of the prelim task and this was mainly due to time. We had much more time in the main project to learn the software and get to grips with a lot of its features whereas with the prelim task a lot of people had never even used the programs before. It was, however, a good chance for people who hadn’t used it to learn and become familiar and this saved time for the main project. When editing our main goal was just to have a sequence that makes sense through the use of film language. While this is also true with the main task we also had a lot more to worry about such as mise-en-scene.

EVALUATION (Stage 5) – The evaluation of the prelim was done in class from a theory perspective by media students and it wasn’t aimed at a mass target audience unlike the film brief. This meant that each evaluation process was quite different but we gained experience in both fields of theory and appealing to a mass audience. Also, due to the fact that the film brief was a lot longer than the prelim there was a greater sense of teamwork within it as we got to know the people we were working with and what sort of ideas they have and bring to the table when making decisions which was an important experience. Moreover, working with actors I had never met before was also a positive experience and one that I didn’t get to experience in the preliminary task.

THE 5 THINGS I LEARNT FROM DOING THE PRELIMINARY TASK ARE:

- Plan the process; carry out reccies and get accessible locations, create storyboards, shooting scripts and hire actors early.

- Running the shoot; follow the storyboard but still shoot spontaneous shots as you can never have enough footage. Remember to run on the action to make life in the edit rooms easier, always shoot the master shot first and from many different distances/angles to create flexibility.

- Editing seamlessly; keep the timeline tidy so you can see where everything when re-ordering and chopping up your shots.

- Evaluating; always get feedback from the teacher, organise test shoots and take them very seriously, put a variety of questions on the questionnaire.

- Finally; always, no matter what, work as a team and keep morale high and positive.