My preliminary film lacked quality equipment and camera skills as it was my first time filming. Since then, I have gained more experience with cameras and editing software. For my foundation production, I focused on using a variety of shots and ensuring the sound fit the genre of the film. I also learned the importance of teamwork, as I had to complete the foundation production with only one other team member after the third left.

1. QUESTION
LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY
TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE
LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO
THE FULL PRODUCT?

2. TEXT
MY PRELIMINARY FILM:
▸So… we created our preliminary film at the very beginning of
our course. We focused on using a lot of different shots and
angles in our film: establishing, over the shoulder, long and
mid shot, to name a few, and a variation of movements:
pivots and tracks. We had this in mind whilst storyboarding.

3. TEXT
EQUIPMENT
▸We used the college’s camera and tripod to film, which were
not the best quality, lens wise.
▸When we filmed our foundation production we have access
to a much better quality Canon camera which had a good
lens on it, so this meant that we could film better shots. We
had also had more experience with cameras because we
had been doing media for a longer amount of time.

4. TEXT
CAMERA SKILLS
▸Our actual camera work was quite shaky when moving the camera, due to
no experience in filming before, in the establishing shot, this is seen whilst
panning the UTC and then later on in the pivot and track which takes place
whilst following one of the characters.
▸Since the preliminary film, I have changed groups in which I worked in and I
believe that this was a better grouping than last time. We kept our film
simpler in terms of movements however, took a wider variety of shots:
establishing, long shot, extreme long shot, mid shot… We also focused more
on filming the protagonist and the stock characters and their props (whats
happening in the shot) instead of trying to make the camera move around
and take attention away from what is happening in the dialogue and actual
film.

5. TEXT
EDITING
▸For the preliminary film, I did next to none of the editing. I helped
make the decisions as to where the in and out points were going to
be, and if certain parts of footage should be used or not however, I
got no hands on editing time, Alex in the group took this role as he
knew how to edit on his laptop.
▸This is the complete opposite for the foundation production. As the
editing has taken place on my laptop, I have been the main editor
for the film. I have had to figure out how to edit on my mac and also
how to crop my footage to the best it can be. I have also used filters
and a range of different shots to create meaning.

6. TEXT
SOUND
▸In the preliminary film, we used soundtracks which didn't fit the mise
en scene or genre of the film at all. I mean Kings of Leon has no
connection to a job interview at all. However, we did use one clever
Taylor Swift lyric to sound bridge the meeting of the interviewer and
interviewee.
▸When we were creating the Prodigy, one of our sole focuses was to
make sure that the sound fit in with the shot as well as the genre. For
example, when Lucy is walking up to her car, we chose a soundtrack
which had a beat to it, to mimic the determination and passion which
she holds in her heart for racing and motorsport.

7. TEXT
IDENT
▸We didn't even include an ident in our preliminary film, so
I’ve come a long way.
▸We created two idents for our Foundation Production. We
did this because all of the films which we researched had
more than one ident at the beginning of their film, because
more than one company had produced and distributed the
film.

8. TEXT
TEAM WORK
▸At the beginning of the production, we were a Trio. However, at
Christmas one of our team members left our course and our college. This
left Beth and myself to film our production, edit it and audience test it.
▸Beth and I are friends any way, so we had no trouble communicating with
each other. We knew the work in which we had to do and would bounce
off of each others ideas as to what would make the film better.
▸We took responsibility in different roles and delegated the work. For
example one week, I was off sick for a few days, so Beth went ahead and
filmed the news report scenes on her own, whilst I edited the footage
which we already had, from my bed.