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

Our preliminary task taught us many of the basic steps in achieving a smooth short clip. With this, we were able to expand and develop on our ideas through the basic knowledge that we were taught within our media lessons. It was a learning experience on how to work the equipment correctly and achieve the best quality leading up to the actual finished product.

From our preliminary task we were able to understand more about the amount of different angle shots required and were able to experiment on the angles which worked well with certain scenes. From our preliminary task, we were also able to eliminate some shots which didn't work to our desired effect.

The preliminary task also enabled us to detect any faults whilst filming some shots. For example, when experimenting a tracking shot, looking back at the footage were able to see more clearly how much movement was caused to the camera when maneuvering it, and whether it was a smooth transition from one side of the scene to the other.

Observing previous captured footage also showed us the quality of the picture, and whether some shots would have to be a closer shot in order to capture full detail to make the opening more clearer to view.

During this task, our group also learnt that in order to achieve continuity editing we needed more than one shot so that we could combine them with corresponding shots to make them look professional so that they appeared to match. Also, when filming we learnt that to make editing simpler, we had to record shots with a gap before and after the actual procedure that we wanted to included.

We explored the different tools available on final cut pro, and were able to look into them in more detail to choose from the variety to decide which one best suited our chosen genre best.

The preliminary task was an opportunity to listen to the sound quality of the camera footage. This gave us more of an incline as to whether it was appropriate to add in our own prerecorded diagetic sound to make the sound more distilled and clearer to understand.

This quality of the camera also had an impact on the different weather atmospheres that we filmed in outside. On our preliminary task, we filmed outside on a sunny day. Looking at the recorded footage showed us the glare on the camera from the intensity of the light, so we were able to adjust the camera to an angle where it wasn't noticeable, this made the the overall shot clearer and the scene more visible for the viewers for when we produced our main task.

Main task production report

We have been filming our footage for the post production for the previous 6 weeks and are close to completing our shots for the main task.

During the filming process our script and shot plan changed so that we could determine which shots were appropriate for the scene being filmed.

A problem features during the filming stage was the weather. On occasions it was sunny and others it was cloudy therefore it affected the general atmosphere and mood of the shot according to the pathetic fallacy which we aimed to achieve. We tried not to let this affect our shots by making sure we filmed important areas and scenes on the same day so that the weather stayed the same for the numerous shots we included.

Also, we had to ensure that no sun glare was on the lens of the camera making the shot look unclear. On cloudy days, we aim to improve the footage by making the lighting in the background brighter to match the weather on the sunny days.
Our group had to be prepared in order of remembering props so that when we did shots they were corresponding and looked as though they were filmed on the same day. We aimed to make our footage in terms of accuracy, look as faultless as possible.

The sounds with the footage were not as clear as we would have liked. Therefore, we aspire to add in the corresponding sound effects to make it sound more clean. For example, the sound effect of a stick snapping will be added, and perhaps the increasing sound of footsteps. The background music was originally Bethan playing the piano, because we felt the improvised music matched nicely with the chosen genre of the film that we decided upon. We found through a survey that without necessarily initially noticing, classical music is particularly effective in captivating the audience.

For example, if you were to play the opening of a film, without the classical music included within it, the viewer feels no connection and easily loses interest because of this. The background music of any film is the main contributor to the desired emotion wanted on the audience by the director.

The main character played by Bethan Syddall was chosen as the group felt it would be an advantage as having a performing arts student act in our group, instead of relying on other actors, we found it more practical to have our own group in our production in order to saved a lot of time.

Likewise, we chose our strengths as in Gareth had the most knowledge to do with the technology included, so he helped a lot with the editing stages on Final Cut Pro 7. We all have a significant input, but in different areas of creating our main task. Working as a group means that we have different responsibilities to contribute to the final product, but still corporate others ideas with our answers.