Media AS evaluation

1. 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what
do you feel you have learnt in the progression
from it to the full product?

2. AIM OF A PRELIMINARY
• The aim of a preliminary task is to develop our understanding of how to produce films
and use a camera to produce a variety of different shot types.
• It is a practice for many people before they film their final product as they are able to
figure out which shots look better than others.
• Doing a preliminary task helped us to be more efficient when it comes to final filming as
we know how to use a camera and which shots would be best for different purposes.
• It helped for us to experience different pre production techniques for example 180
degrees rule and also shot reverse shot, with the preliminary task we were able to make
simple mistakes and learn from this for the main product.

3. REFLECTION
• For our preliminary task, we decided to use the basic narrative of a female being late for an
exam and coming into the examination room late, then talking to a friend. We decided to do
this because we could use a school location which was easily accessible for us to do making
the production of this very efficient.
• After producing the preliminary task, we thought that it was successful because it was filmed
in one day so there was complete continuity with our filming. Also we had a mixture of shots
included which gave the practice a bit of variation and we managed to successfully
incorporate shot reverse shot into the opening.
• However we didn’t include any sound because we thought that it would have been more
effective in the final product. As well as this we thought that our editing could have been
improved because we didn’t use any techniques to make it very interesting for an audience,
just put the shots together so that it was continuous.

4. PLANNING
• When planning our preliminary task, we didn’t plan any storyboards because we wanted to
plan our filming as we went along as it was the first time we had ever filmed. We didn’t want
to stick to a guide on what to do as we wanted to be creative and experiment with different
types of shots to create a film with good quality camera shots.
• However for our main production, we produced a 20 shot storyboard highlighting the type of
shots, camera movement and shot length. We put a lot of detail into the main storyboard
because we wanted to be efficient when it comes to filming days but also we thought that it
would be a good idea to have a complete plan when it came to filming.
• Although we did go again the storyboard a few time because we found that some shots
wouldn’t work and should be replaced by others and we took an extra few shots so that we
could work them into the opening incase any of them didn’t work.

5. EQUIPMENT
• For the preliminary task, we used a mixture of flip camera and a Panasonic camera as it
was the most efficient equipment to use at the time and was easy to figure out how to
use however the mixture of the two cameras didn’t produce the best quality film as it
was slightly blurry at times.
• Although for the main task, we only used a Panasonic HDC-SD700 camera and a tripod
to conduct our filming. We wanted to have very good camera quality which is why we
chose to use this camera and having the tripod helped us to change different camera
shots to create a professional production.

6. CAMERA
• For the preliminary task, we decided to only use basic camera shots as we just wanted
to get an understanding of how to work the camera efficiently.
• The overall task as quite basic as we were still learning, it mainly consisted of basic
panning movement shots as we thought that it would be difficult to make a complex
film.
• We also had very little dialogue as we wanted to mainly focus on the camera shots, at
times the shots seemed slightly blurry which could have been to do with us learning
how to use the camera on the go.

7. CAMERA
• The camera in the final production was an overall improvement compared to the
preliminary task, this is shown through the wider range of camera shots that we used as
we used shots such as POV, high and low angle to develop our narrative.
• We were also a bit more creative in our shots for example using the tripod to get a
extremely high angled shot of the protagonist being followed by the antagonist.

8. SOUND
• In our preliminary, we didn’t include any sound clips other than the diegetic dialogue
that the actors used. This is because we wanted to focus more on the camera element
of our opening, we thought that sound wouldn’t be as important until the main product.
• For the main opening, we took more time when it came to what sound we should put
into it, in our case we searched for non copyright music on the internet and decided to
use a multiple layered non diegetic sound track in the end that increased in pace and
tempo towards significant parts of the opening to build suspense.
• We also used pre recorded sound effects done by ourselves to use as ambient sound in
the opening, to add create an eerie atmosphere for the opening which relates towards
the thriller genre that we are aiming for.

9. EDITING
• In the preliminary task, we didn’t use many editing techniques as we were just creating a
simple sequence. Instead we found the best order for our clips to go in, to create a
continuous piece of film without any cuts or fades.
• The preliminary was successful for what we wanted to create however we couldn’t do this for
our main product because it would have made it very uninteresting for the audience to
watch.
• So instead, for our main product we tried to improve our editing skills by including the cuts
from the present time to the flashbacks to add towards the context of the narrative. Also we
used jump cuts to build tension and create a sinister atmosphere as they are a convention of
the thriller genre, used to keep the audience excited about what will happen next.

10. TILES AND CREDITS
• Our preliminary activity didn’t include any titles or credits, just video footage as we were only creating a
simple film. However for the main film, we wanted to make a professional product which is why we
wanted to include titles and credits that related towards the thriller genre.
• We tried to make more realistic titles related towards our genre, for them to look more professional. For
this process we used Livetype as e could choose from a variety of font options and download fonts off
the internet if we felt that the ones available weren’t suitable.
• Livetype also enabled us to animate the titles and use different effects on them for example fade in and
out to create the eerie effect that we wanted for the opening.
• We also wanted to name the actors who were in our film and use the conventional style of titles where
it included who produced and directed the opening as we wanted to make it a professional product that
would be taken seriously in the film industry.
• The final title for the film was created using a downloaded font that was within the thriller genre, we
also changed the colour compared to the usual titles to give the film connotations of danger.

11. IMPROVEMENTS
• If we were to re-film our final product for a second time, we would make a couple of
changes for example, include more shots from different perspectives to add details
towards the narrative.
• Also we would perhaps add a few more flashbacks into the opening to develop the
narrative further so the audience could see why or how things happened, creating a
larger enigma keeping the audience hooked.
• We could also try to film over a couple more days as we would have more time to think
carefully about if different were going to work or not.

12. CONCLUSION
• Overall, our main product was a vast improvement on our preliminary product. We
learnt a huge amount about how to create a successful small production, we developed
our understanding on how to use the four elements to create a professional product.
• We learnt to be time efficient and work well as a group to complete the task to a
deadline by splitting the work between the pair between the two of us so that there was
not too much work for one person which made us a successful team.