The document summarizes the evaluation of a preliminary film task. It notes that while there were setbacks in filming, the actors performed well and the location and lighting were suitable. However, mistakes were made such as not strictly following the storyboard, poor planning of filming dates, and technical errors like a boom pole falling into the shot. Lessons learned include the importance of adhering to the storyboard, advanced planning, and avoiding technical mistakes. The brief was partially met but shot reverse shots were not achieved due to time constraints. Technical skills like titles and transitions were applied in editing.

1. Evaluation of preliminary task.
What went well?
Despite multiple setbacks whilst trying to film our preliminary task, there were also some positive
factors before and during filming that did go well. I feel we had good actors that were focused
willing to take part in making our task successful. They learned their lines well and did exactly what
we asked of them.
I feel the mise-en-scene of our video was very accurate. The gym portrayed a masculine and
dominant message making the location convincing whilst fitting with the plot at the same time. The
lighting whilst filming was also very good as it stayed at a constant and did not fluctuate.
Another aspect that went well was the planning before filming. We created a strong and clear script
that followed with a coloured and annotated story board. This allowed us to have a clear guide to
follow when it came to filming that both the film crew and actors could use.
A final part of our preliminary task I felt was successful was the use of the filming equipment and the
editing programme Premier Pro. To film we used a video camera attached to a tripod to ensure we
did not get shaky footage, and a microphone with a foam windshield attached to a boom pole.
Whilst editing all the scenes together using this programme I have learned the main features that
are essential to putting together a video and i feel more confident in using the programme.
What mistakes did you make and what have you learned to take forward to your main task?
I feel the main mistake we made was not sticking to the story board and using it as a guideline whilst
filming. Because of this, I don’t believe we used a huge variety of shots, making our overall piece
fairly dull and not of the quality it should have been. In our main task I must ensure I take both the
story board and the script along to filming so that we do not miss key aspects we had planned to do
out.
Another mistake our group made during the preliminary task was not planning dates to film well in
advance. This resulted in difficulties with the amount of time we had to film, the location of where
we could film and the availability of our actors. We found ourselves at first having all the correct
equipment to film, and the location sorted but our actors were not available. After this we decided
to re-cast our actors who we felt we had more opportunities to film with for example during school
time, and to change our location of filming so that it was closer for easier access again increasing the
amount of opportunities we had to film. At this point we had our actors and the location available
but did not have any equipment to film with. This meant we were only able to perform a rehearsal
and not get any filming done. Our final attempt at filming found us having to go back to the original
location of Chew Valley Rugby Club gym due to Chew Valley School gym being closed down.
However, we only had a short set amount of time to film in which put us under pressure and
reduced the amount of filming we hoped to compose for each scene. This made us feel rushed which
has resulted in us not having a lot of material to edit together and not having a wide variety of
different shots. For the main task I will set a date in which the actors, cameras and the location will
be available for, well in advance with an adequate amount of time to film allowing enough time for
bloopers and the camera to be set up in each position.
A final mistake our group made which I felt has degraded the quality of our piece is the boom falling
in shot in the first scene. We were not able to edit this out using Premier Pro and this clip was the
only bit of footage in this scene where our actors were not laughing. We did not realise that the

2. boom had fell into shot whilst filming until we came to editing. As I was filming, I should of picked up
on this error whilst the camera was recording so the scene could be shot again without the boom
falling into shot. This cannot be done in our main task as it looks highly unprofessional and can easily
be avoided by either re-shooting the scene or keeping the boom well above shot with a steady hand.
Meeting the brief
I feel we met the brief to a certain extent with the main downfall being that we did not compose
shot reverse shot meaning we also were not able to follow the 180 degree rule. I felt we made the
scene of where a character crosses a room and sits down in a chair interesting, as we made use of
the gym equipment instead of a chair so that it also fit the mise-en-scene of our piece.
Although our character did not meet the brief by ‘opening a door’ due to there not being one where
we were filming, I felt we still demonstrated match on action particularly well and overcame this
problem. In this scene we got our actor Jack, to walk through a door frame with the camera at a low
angle making him seem dominant and powerful. We then moved the location of the camera and
shot this scene again so the match on action was on time with Jack walking through the doorframe
and then entering the gym.
Due to a lack of time, we were not able to re shoot the scene when our characters were exchanging
lines of dialogue with the camera in a different location of being over Jacks shoulder, so we were
unsuccessful in demonstrating shot reverse shot. I feel this aspect of filming is essential as our final
piece does not look professional enough for what I would have liked. In the main task we must make
composing shot reverse shot a priority as our piece will not be successful without that aspect in the
filming.

3. Technical Skills
When editing, we added titles before and after the material as these are the conventions of any
piece of filming. At the beginning of our video, before the material we filmed, we inserted a black
title screen with the name of our preliminary task. Having the title of the film at the beginning of the
film is a convention of all films whether they are 1 minuet long of 2 hours so we had to include one
of these to make our piece look convincing and professional. We also inserted 3 title scenes, keeping
the same theme of a black background with white writing, at the end of our piece. These scenes are
also known as the credits and are the conventions of a film. These titles show who the piece was
filmed by, who the piece was edited by and who the actors were.
Although we did not add any
sound effects to our piece we did
insert a J cut twice whilst editing.
The first J cut we inserted was at
the beginning of our piece
between the title scene and the
first scene. This was done to make the transition between these two scenes flow. The second time
we inserted a J cut was in the middle when we used a fade transition between two scenes to make is
apparent to the viewer that an amount of time had passed. I feel the overall quality of the sound in
our preliminary task was ok but it could have been improved by adding a dead cat as the
microphone picked up a few extra unwanted sounds although we put a foam windshield on.