This document reflects on the progress made from the preliminary task to the final video project. In the preliminary task, the filmmakers were still learning techniques and had limited time, which restricted the lighting, costumes, locations, and sound design. For the final video, the filmmaker applied lessons from the preliminary by improving the mise-en-scene, exploring more locations, and developing skills with camerawork, sound design, and editing software. Overall, the filmmaker learned important new skills in areas like lighting, planning, and post-production over the course of completing these two projects.

1. EVALUATION Q1
Looking at your preliminary task, How far have you
progressed to your full product.

2. LOOKING BACK AT THE PRELIM
When we filmed our preliminary task it was our first major video. So we were learning a whole
new range of techniques and ideas.
Our process of filming went as such, where we planned, drew up a vague storyboard and script
then went to shoot. We had only 1 light set-up which was used as the Key light really, it added the
“spotlight” effect that we wanted. This gave us the interrogation look we went after. However the
lighting was rushed and we didn’t put as much time into it as we could have had. In regards to the
Mise en Scene, our costumes weren’t thought out as we just wore casual clothes and no make-up.
However, we took our positioning in the shot into account, we specifically set the layout of the
scene in a way that it looked like an interrogation. But we were restricted with time to give it a
perfect finish, e.g a black background. To make it seem more ominous. In regards to our location
we were lucky in being able to use the drama hall. But had we not been able to then we would’ve
been very restricted in the locations we had access to. Our sound was all diegetic sound. All the
sounds that were used were all within the film other than the gunshot, which was dubbed over
during editing. This again was only because we had such a small time. When it came to using the
camera. We had Richard, one of the people in my group, working as the camera man. But during
editing we did understand the importance of making good use of over the shoulder shots and
important assets. When it came to editing software, I was familiar with Sony Vegas, but only at a
beginner level, so all our techniques were new to me.

3. MOVING ONTO THE FINAL
PROJECT
When starting our opening sequences, I took into
consideration all I had learnt in regards Mise en scene
from the preliminary task, as well as all we had learnt
and put it into practice. I started coming together with a
few ideas as to what my film would be about. I came up
with a sort of real life scenario situation with a film
called “Suicide.” Which was what my film pitch was
about. However, I came up with an idea which would
have a wider target audience which is what I followed on
with.

4. MISE EN SCENE
With my final video, I realised I should be more prepared than last time, so I took into account
more than last time, making sure the clothing and make up made sense. This film was meant to
have a sense of realism to it, so all the actors wore casual clothes, normal, everyday clothes. No
make-up was used as I was working with boys and I was still trying to go with realism. The
positioning in the video I felt was much more fluent in where everyone was during each shot. The
setting I believe I was able to explore more locations and areas with a larger time scale.
With Lighting, I wanted to use a form of 3 point lighting. However, I was restricted to the lights
available, and the spaces I wanted to use it were too small, so I had to use natural lighting. I was
aware of the downsides to this, such as a re-shoot would need to be filmed on a day of similar
weather, but I managed to make it work. Our sound design we had to go more in depth than in
the preliminary. I took my knowledge on sound design from the preliminary and applied it here.
Where if we needed a sound effect, we would film the object that would make the exact sound
and dub it over the top, such as when the remote falls to the floor.
When we were using the camera, we decided to use a tripod for the majority of the
shots, however, the tripod was creaky and we had no way of fixing this, we tried our best to edit
it out, however, we couldn’t remove the sound. But other than that, we were able to perform a
variety of different shots, such as wide shots etc, that we couldn’t perform in our preliminary
task.
When we were using editing software, we used Sony Vegas and Adobe After Effects, we used this
to create the floating remote where we placed a green screen behind the remote and added the
shot over the top in After Effects. I learnt a lot of new skills with this program, such as how to
chroma key properly etc.

5. HOW I HAVE PROGRESSED
I have learnt many new skills from the stage of creating our preliminary
task, to the stage of our completed final video. I have learnt and understood
new types of lighting and I now have knowledge in 3 point lighting. I
understand the concept of Mise en Scene much better. I was able to prepare
and plan people and able to shoot in better locations, and my knowledge on
editing software has improved greatly. This is the culmination of my progress
from my Preliminary task to my Final video.