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1. Looking back at your preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the main task?
The Preliminary
The preliminary task was a good opportunity to try out a range of shot types and basic editing
techniques which would be fundamental in the post-production process. Since we’d already created a
short film we knew the limitations but also possibilities of editing. It was useful for us to know what
we could do and what we couldn’t do in post- production. A useful technique I learnt in the
preliminary was about creating pre-sets in Premiere Pro. This meant that the colour grading of some
clip could be apply consistently throughout multiple and doesn’t just apply to the look of the film. It
was a useful tool to learn in order to speed up the editing process.
In the preliminary task we had some continuity issues around the poster disappearing and the
hairstyles changing from shot to shot. We tried to avoid this by ensuring we filmed the scenes in one
day instead of shooting small amounts on multiple days. We also had much shorter scenes on the
main task so there was less room for continuity issues to occur, this was due to the fast nature of our
film opening.
In the preliminary we also had a few shots that were slanted that needed to be corrected in post-
production. To avoid this in production of ‘Incognito’ I made sure to double check the shots by taking
a photo before we shot the scenes. This helped to make sure that the composition, brightness,
exposure and angle was right.
In the preliminary the changing between shots needed to be quicker to ensure that it flowed better and
to help it look more realistic. This is more down to experience using Premiere Pro, and having enough
footage to pick from to find the clips that could be used to together that flowed the best. In the main
task we shot way more than needed and some scenes were shot up to 10 times so that we could pick
out the best footage to use.
Something that stood out after the preliminary was that volume level is extremely important. In our
preliminary the volume consistency was hard to achieve, this was because of where we placed the
camera. Close-up shots were significantly louder than mid/long shots because we used the
microphone on the camera for our audio. In our main task there wasn’t a lot of dialogue from the
characters on screen,as there was a voiceover running over the top. However,to get consistent
dialogue I made sure to monitor the audio levels of each scene and adjust them either lower or higher
so that there was a consistent level between scenes. We also tried out a variety of audio equipment to
produce a better audio quality. We used an additional microphone for one scene as we thought it

2. would pick up audio better. Although after listening back to the recording it was not any better and the
camera had picked up a better recording.
Background noise was also another problem in the preliminary task, as tambourines could be heard in
the recording. To overcome this problem we decided to film at times were background noise would be
at a minimum. We also decided to shoot each shot multiple times, so if there was background that
interfered we could pick a different shot instead of going to re-shoot it.
Here’s the preliminary: https://youtu.be/tU6cVJTeUxo
Editing techniques
My understanding of editing techniques has improve through using Premiere Pro more so that I know
where all the tools are located and what they do. For example I tried out creating some practice titles
on the software and a trailer for our film. This helped me to get use to and learn the editing techniques
needed for the main task. Through using the software I found the tools to adjust the volume so that it
could be panned and brought up or down. This was useful to overcome the problems from the
preliminary task.
I have also learnt about how to create certain things using tutorials on YouTube. These were helpful
as the techniques could be applied in other areas of editing. For example the glitch effect tutorial for
After Effects was usefulfor: the titles of the scenes (‘Monday’ etc.),the ‘Incognito’ logo and for the
glitch overlay on the video (https://youtu.be/r-WlOex6qJA). Another tutorial I used was for the
motion tracking titles (https://youtu.be/Lo_PQKl-WzQ). Tutorials for Premiere Pro I watched
after the preliminary also helped in the editing of the main task as they covered the basics of the
software,such as key frames,cutting tool and pre-sets. Key frames were quintessential in the editing
of our film, from the colour grading to the text message overlay.
Pre-production
We learnt from the preliminary that shot continuity could be improved by shooting a sequence in one
day rather than over several. With this in mind we decided to allocate enough time when creating the
shooting schedules so that we didn’t have to go back and re-shoot. I looked at how to properly set up a
camera in manual mode before filming, as this is the best way to shoot films on DSLRs. I made notes
from tutorials and web articles, and then tested the settings outs to make sure they would work when
filming. One of the techniques I tried out with the camera lens was focus pulls/rack focus. This is the
switching the focal point from one subject/object in a frame to another subject/object that is closer or
farther from the camera,whereby one subject is sharp and clear while another part of the frame is
blurry (out of focus). To make sure the camera was setup right I took practice shots to check the
exposure and the iso level.

3. In pre-production some of the cast tried a practice of one of the fight scene and we tried to work out
the positioning of the camera to make the sequence look as realistic as possible. We tried this twice to
make sure we got it right before going out filming the real thing.