Evaluation Task 7 - What have i learnt from Prelim to main Task

When we began the year, we made a prelim with a basic script as well as using many different camera angles in each scene. For the prelim, we made a basic storyboard to follow guidelines of what to say and what angle to film from for each scene. For our film, we made a detailed storyboard instructing the protagonist what to do, how to act, what to say and the camera angle used in that scene. We developed our storyboard making skills in this process leading up to the filming of the opening sequence which enabled us to make a far more detailed storyboard that the one from the prelim. Furthermore, we were also given the fully completed storyboard for our prelim where as we made our film prelim from scratch with no guidelines given.

In the lead up to the prelim, we had no rehearsals and we were just given a prelim to film and act in, all on the day. We had no time to rehearse with our actors and no time to practice camera shots. For our film, we designated a whole day to rehearsals and practice for the film in which we went through the script and sequence with the actors, practised all the lighting and camera shots as well as constructing all the camera equipment. We took a lot more time and care into rehearsals as we wanted everything to run smoothly and efficiently on filming day. Also, we held auditions at Tommy's house for casting the main protagonists in our film. We did this as we wanted the best possible actor in our film so the main plot was comprehended the way we planned it.

When we were handed our prelim, we were given a basic script that we could not change which had no personal input from us. For our film, we had a script writing day where we designated all of our Sunday to planning the film. This consists of what will be said, stage directions, lighting instructions and camera angle. Our film has minimal words in it so we took this time and made it more focused towards the camera shots, lighting and sound. We believe the attention we showed towards our script was significantly more than our prelim as it had our own personal ideas towards it and we didn't just copy off a sheet, we made it all using our planning and research.

When shooting our prelim, we filmed it using the clothes we had on as the storyboard did not instruct a specific clothing to be worn. Also, the basic storyboard did not tell us what sort of lighting, props, actors, make up to include in our filming. The lack of detail made it extremely difficult for us to create any sort of narrative in our prelim. For our film, we made sure we planned all the mise-en scene in our storyboard so when we came to film it, we knew what lighting we were using for each scene, we knew what costumes we were wearing, we knew what make up we needed for people or landscape, we knew if we needed any props and where they would be placed. Four our film, we intensely planned every action as we wanted the narrative to come across as simply as it seems.

For our prelim, we were given camera shots to include for each scene on the day so we stuck to the sheet and filmed it the way we were told. As previously said, for our film we had a rehearsal day where we practised a run through of each scene several times in order to ensure we knew what was happening on shoot day so everything was efficient. This run through enabled us to have a picture in our mind going into shoot day of what we wanted to happen, at what specific angle at any point in the opening sequence. We believe the shooting of our film in comparison to the prelim was a lot higher quality as a lot more planning and research went into the creation of the narrative as well as using specific camera angles to create an impression about the characters and what will happen next. For example, in our prelim we only used wide shot, over the shoulder and close up but for our film, we used tracking shot, extreme close ups, high angle, low angle, panning as well as all the shots from the prelim. We used all these other shots in our film as we advanced our skills and learnt what angle to place the camera at in the time in between filming the prelim and the film.

When editing our prelim, we were given no instructions on what to include in terms of non diegetic music, sound effects and titles. The editing for our prelim took very minimal time as we had a basic understanding of how the software worked so because of this we just combined all the scenes in the correct order with the correct camera angle, with nothing done with titles, music or effects. For our film, we took a long time precisely editing each frame of each scene in order for it to be perfect and fit the narrative we planned. This involved combining all the scenes in the correct order with the correct camera shots then making sure the scene changes were smooth and barely noticeable. Following this, we changed the lighting by adding a filter as well as slowly removing all the footage we did not need. Once this was completed, we began looking at sound effects, music and titles in which we researched and gathered several different opinions. Once we had decided on the non diegetic background music, relevant sound effects and font for the titles, we integrated them into our film so they became natural like they were always meant to be there. We then asked people to watch our finished film and give constructive criticism. From these opinions, we mended several aspects of our film including removing an entire scene. We believe the editing was done in far more detail for our film in comparison to our prelim as we learnt a lot more skills in the time gap as well as wanting people to understand the narrative a lot more for the film. For example, in our prelim we did not change the sound in any way however for our film, we altered the sound by adding music, changing the sound of particular areas of importance and adding sound effects.