1. Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
Location:
My preliminary task was a messenger delivering an important letter to the ‘Boss’. The setting I used for my
preliminary task was the languages corridor and a small meeting room at my school. Although this was
suitable for the task we were given, I would have preferred a bigger more versatile space which I could have
perhaps incorporated into my preliminary task. If I had the chance to re- film, I would like to choose an
external from school location, to make the film look more realistic and less like a student’s film. In
comparison to my media product I have constructed, this is worse as I carefully picked the two locations
carefully for reasons that: they are nearby, they are available for use and they fit with the genre of action
movies. For example: the industrial estate is a convention of action movies as they are isolated and packed
with industrial machinery, similar of which could be used as transport or weaponry in an action movie, so it
would fit the genre. To contrast this a school corridor is not somewhere where a gang boss would have his
top-secret messages passed onto him. This exhibits that I have learnt to carefully select my location to
conform the conventions of the genre action.
Costumes:
The costumes used in my preliminary task were casual clothing which the actors were wearing that day. For example
the messenger was wearing a black fleece and the ‘boss’ wearing a black sweatshirt with a screaming blue hand on the
front. Both of which would not usually be recognised in a meeting between gang members. This made the film look
less realistic and perhaps made my film unsuccessful to some extent. In contrast to this, in my latest film ‘Heist Girls’ all
of the armed robbers were wearing black which has connotations of danger with black balaclavas being a key
conventions of successful armed robbery scenes. The police constable and detective although they both had small
roles, had a noticeable costume. One was wearing a suit with a high collared coat, this represented him as the more
authoritative figure as he does not have to wear a uniform, and the police constable had a yellow high-vis coat with
‘POLICE’ printed on the back. This perhaps had a key role in the success of my film in contrast to my preliminary task
as it makes my film look more realistic and clearly signifies their roles within the film, whereas the casual clothing
perhaps did not. In the future I have learnt that costumes play a large part in the film and will take this forward with
me into future productions.
2. Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
Actors:
For the actors used in my finished product, I used students that had all had previous acting experience, whether that
was from youth amateur dramatics or in other student’s media films, they all had experience. Whereas, in my
preliminary task only one had previous acting experience which was playing a small role in my GCSE media film. This
meant that although the actors used in my preliminary task were good, however they were not as good as in my film
‘Heist Girls’ as they were unable to play realistic gang members. Also, age had a large impact on the actors I was using.
In my preliminary task the two actors were both sixteen years of age, this meant that they were perhaps unable to
portray a powerful gang due to their age and young looks. In my latest production, however, all the females in the
armed robbery were aged between seventeen and eighteen, giving my film a more realistic approach as it looked as if
they can partake a crime of this sort. Because of the age gap, I could capture more intense emotions and seriousness,
which is needed for a successful action movie.
Camera Shots and Angles:
The camera shots and angles I used in my media preliminary task, showed basic understanding over the one-hundred-
and-eighty-degree rule, shot reverse shot and match on action. I mainly used over the shoulder and mid shots of the
two gang members to show their emotions as one was talking to the other. However, as I was holding the camera by
hand some of the angles of these shots vary between high and low angle shots which could perhaps, disorientate the
viewer. In my latest production ‘Heist Girls,’ my shots were carefully thought out to capture the action of my film whilst
still capturing the emotions of my characters, a perfect example of this is when the robbery is taking place, the
receptionist’s face is looking upset and distressed which could suggest the danger which she is in. Camera movement
was also key in my film as it had to show a fast pace and a sense of urgency, I used this when two of the armed
robbers are arguing in the car, it captures both the fast pace action of the getaway whilst still including dialogue.
These camera movements have been used in films such as ‘The Business’ (2005) which shows that it conforms to the
genre of action movies.
What to Improve?
One skill that I would hope to improve on is my attention to detail whilst filming. For example, in my preliminary task
there was a tripod in the corner of the frame. This made the film look unprofessional and unrealistic as in a meeting
between two gang members a tripod would not necessarily be seen in this location. I did however, use minimal
equipment in my latest film and whatever equipment I was using, it was behind the lens. This allowed me to create
more realistic and professional shots, however in the future I would like to use more equipment such as a Steadicam to
get smoother shots. Also in my film a lot of the shots were done handheld, this resulted in slightly shaky footage even
after a warp stabiliser in post-production. In the future I would like to use a gimble or a Steadicam to produce
smoother, more professional shots.
