AS Media Evaluation - Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to the full product?

Since the preliminary task I feel that we have learnt a lot; from the very first time we used continuity editing. Trying to match up the motion of the man walking down the corridor and through the door was an example of this. We had trouble trying to find the right angles to shoot from so that the character was still in the same positioning and following the 180 degree rule.  However, we tried many different camera angles and possibilities, until eventually we managed to get it right to the best of our abilities. The preliminary task was a real eye-opener to what camera work and editing really was. It wasn't as easy as we believed it what be. Seeing that it’s only about thirty seconds, we thought it would be very quick. We soon discovered that that was not the case, and actually a bit more thinking and trying of different angles is very beneficial.

A pan screen-shot from the preliminary task and the final project.

The preliminary task was very tedious to say the least. The feedback we got from our teachers helped us to understand new techniques of camera work/angles and how the position the actual camera. When it came the actual project, we spent the majority of the morning of filming deciphering where the put the camera, where the actors should be and working with the lighting (as we shot on location). The lighting was something quite difficult to work with, as we hadn’t had any experiences with it. When shooting the preliminary task, we shot it in an already lit corridor and room. We didn’t take the lighting into account. However, when it came to the actual film, we found ourselves trying to find the perfect spot. That was the biggest thing that we learnt throughout this because it’s something that was vastly important. For the perfect shot, we had to get the perfect lighting first.

Something else that we didn’t do in the preliminary task that we did in the actual film was working with actors/people. To put the actors in the right place and to get them to do what we wanted to do was very tedious as well. Putting makeup on people was also a very strange thing. It was really awkward initially as we didn’t know what to fully do, then where to put the makeup on. But we got it how we wanted it eventually. It looks kind of cheap, but there’s a certain charm to it. We tried to make the makeup look as good as possible with what we have, but seeing as neither of us had any past experiences with applying makeup. It didn’t look that professional, but it still looks good overall.

The preliminary task opened our eyes into what we needed to do for the project. It was very important in that we took many different approaches in the task, rather than rushing it and trying to get it done as quickly as possible. We took our time, and our project looks a lot better for it. That’s the biggest thing we took from this. Take your time. Don’t rush, have patience and your project will look so much better for it.