2. PRELIMINARY TASK SUMMARY
For our first task, I was in a group with Amelia, Catherine and Grace. We split up into different
roles such as only certain people used camera equipment however other people have the role
of directing and deciding where to film.
It was our first time using any camera equipment and editing software's, meaning we
struggled with first using it and had trouble with understanding how to upload our footage.
When filming, as there was 4 of us it took us a lot longer to film as there was many of us with
some actors as well so it was a struggle trying to sort people out with their roles and be
organised, however it taught us how to successfully work as a team as it meant our sequences
all turned out successful.
Doing this task beforehand meant that we knew how to use iMovie and the camera
successfully for our final task and could do it as quick as possible as it gave us enough
practice for it all to be easy to use.
3. RESEARCH
For our final piece we had to do plenty of individual research and display it on my blog. To do this
successfully, I firstly did research into genres which appeal to me and listed all the stereotypical
conventions in these genres on a poster, such as UFO’s in sci-fi films and mythical creatures in
fantasy films. After this, I narrowed it down to my chosen genre of horror and listed as many
conventions of horror films on a separate poster. I then took a picture and posted them to my blog
which made it much more easier for me to plan my film as I knew what iconography, audio,
characters and many other things should be in my film to help it fit to a horror genre the best it
can. This showed progress from my preliminary task as we only planned it vaguely which could be
noticeable in my work as it was less interesting than my final task.
We also did lots of research by watching opening sequences and analysing them so we could get a
larger understanding of all the conventions used in horror genres. To do this, I did a timeline of the
titles shown in Cabin in the woods, to give me ideas on how often to make my titles appear, and I
also analysed the opening sequence to Insidious to give me an understanding on what I needed to
include in my own opening sequence to make it as much like a successful horror film as I could.
4. USING MISE-EN-SCENE
The mise-en-scene of both tasks has developed a large amount. This is because our
preliminary task was about an MMA fighter, however the only clue of this beforehand was the
aggressive music, there was no iconography or outfits that helped display this. However our
final sequence clearly shows that it is a horror film about a young girl who goes missing as it
is located in abandoned train tracks and the woods, with iconography of broken toys and a
photo album showing the girl as a baby and her family, dark gloomy lighting with no colour
and acting codes of the girl looking afraid. This shows clues clearly which we were not
successful with in our preliminary task.
Unfortunately we could not include any costumes in our final task as the only time we
included a character was an extreme close up at the very end so her clothing was not visible.
This is also the reason for no key positioning as there was only one shot of a character where
nothing was visible except her eye.
5. CAMERA SKILLS
Our camera work skills increased a large amount because on our preliminary task, we broke
the 180 degree rule without noticing until we had uploaded our footage. However for this
final piece we made sure to avoid this and get as many variations of camera shots and angles
as possible, such as close ups, establishing shots, panning and many more of which we did
not use in our preliminary task. We used more shots to try and establish the location in our
final task, however in the preliminary task we mostly filmed the characters speaking and made
that the main focus of our sequence to create a successful shot-reverse-shot. In our final task
also we tried to include camera skills in a way that it would look like it is from the
protagonists perspective.
6. PROGRESS WITH EDITING
In the preliminary task I did not use iMovie to edit the colouring and lighting of my clips,
however in the final task we put all our shots in black and white and also used pictures as well
as videos. We darkened the clips also so that it fit more successfully with horror and so it
would include as many conventions of this genre as it could. We also slowed down clips so
that it looked more eerie which I did not do in my preliminary task. We also added titles on
top of the actual clips which I also did not do in my preliminary task.
7. WORKING IN A PAIR
Since I have now worked in a group of four and with just one partner, the experience has
allowed me to understand that I prefer working in a pair as it is less hassle with trying to
share ideas and you can make more of an input. I also now know that I will want to
continue working in a pair for any more of my coursework if we are allowed to do so, as
it meant I could use all of my ideas as well as having an input and opinion from someone
else. This applied for editing and filming, so our work is currently at the best it could be.
8. DIFFERENT WAYS OF PLANNING
When we planned the preliminary task, all we had to do was make a storyboard and decide who would have the role of
camera man, director and producer.
When we did the final task, we made a story board, however made it into an animatic (where you take pictures of the
drawings and put them into their own) which we found helped us produce our actual film a large amount, as we got to share
our ideas visually and we found all the audio which we would also include in our film that was featured in the animatic.
Without doing this animatic our ideas may have been much harder to share and it allowed us to get a perfect idea of how we
were going to film and edit our sequence.
We also made a mood board which we didn’t do for our preliminary task, which also helped a large amount as it allowed us
to successfully share how we visualised the shots, which then was very important for when we were filming and how we
would edit the colouring on them to look. It also helped us have a wide understanding of the iconography we were going to
include as well as lighting and colouring.
We also did research into idents, and I doing this I found that Warner Bros change their ident at the start of Harry Potter
films to appear more dark and gloomy with cloudy back grounds as the films are very mysterious. This gave us the idea to
design an ident, present it on our blogs and then change it in the actual film sequence to be black and white and appear to
be very gloomy, with a suspenseful audio whilst it is showing.
Before we started planning our actual film, we created a jelly baby sequence which helped us have more of an understanding
of how to use iMovie and help to plan and design a film and the process of it all.
9. CONCLUSION
Overall, I found that the process we did to produce this film was very successful and useful. It allowed me
to plan and develop my work successfully so that we had the best results possible. This is because we used
visual planning techniques so we could share our ideas in the best way possible and have the best
outcome that we were both satisfied with. We both only used ideas that we were both satisfied with so
that there wasn’t any parts of it that we were unhappy with. This showed my progression from the
preliminary task as we only did a storyboard to plan which made it harder to edit and understand how we
wanted the outcome of our task the turn out. I am now much more familiar with the design process and I
now have full knowledge on how to film and edit something to match how it is planned, such as we
planned on the fact that the whole sequence would be montage with no speech. I also know how to
successfully find audio I want and how to insert any music or sound effects that I need for my sequence.
When doing my preliminary I did not know how to speed up or slow down clips, and I had not done much
editing to the clips itself however in this sequence my film had a clear genre with conventions. The
progress I made also helped me to gain an understanding of how I work better which is with a pair as I like
to share ideas and have other peoples so we can combine them together however working in a group of
four was too many and was a harder process. Overall the process of my final piece felt more organised and
ended up how I had hoped and imagined.
