The student learned several important lessons from their preliminary task to their full opening sequence project. They went from having an unplanned conversation with no clear audience or location to fully storyboarding with the audience in mind. They improved at planning shots, roles and obtaining sufficient footage. Their editing skills grew tremendously from initially not knowing the software to mastering it. They learned to work as a cohesive team and give/receive constructive feedback to continually improve.

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

2. Planning:
•At the beginning of the year we were asked to create a preliminary sequence of a
conversation which included mandatory shots e.g.. 1 extra long shots and 2 close ups.
•Location – the location was within the school grounds which created a mise-en-scene
via the posters on the walls and the classrooms which was portrayed through the
establishing shots. The conversation was within the classroom. In our opening sequence
this is what we needed to portray to the audience, a clear location that is known by
everyone.
•Storyboarding – we didn’t complete our storyboard as we wanted to just test out the
camera’s and establish who had previous experience in order to teach anyone who
didn’t know anything about it. However, in our opening sequence we made sure that a
firm story board was created and was understood by everyone in the group in order to
think of different ways in which we want to portray this story.
•Audience – we didn’t think of an audience group for our preliminary task as we weren’t
in that mentality of what would be suitable for a group. In the opening sequence we
realised that this is a crucial part of the opening sequence as you maybe producing a film
for no audience as it wouldn’t be suitable or preferred by anyone.

3. The Process Of Running A Shoot:
• Scripts – There was a basic script that was given to us but we decided as a group that we
would make the script up. We collectively decided on a general message that we wanted to
convey through the use of language which is how we used the aspect of improvisation. In my
opening sequence we actually had no sense of dialogue in order to create a sense of mystery
behind the protagonist and to also relate it to our genre.
• Roles – Everyone took turns when filming the preliminary task in order to understand the
process of filming. We also took two camera’s to help get as many different angles and aspects
that one camera wouldn’t do. There were also two actors, which we found slightly hard to
multitask and to share the responsibilities with everyone. Due to there being 3 people in my
group when we were filming our opening sequence, one person was acting so the two other
people shared the role of filming whilst the other person checked the lighting issues and made
sure that everything was ready for filming.
•How much to shoot - Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to prepare and plan which
then led us to not have as much footage as we possible could have. Then we uploaded and
placed all the clips together and in the order that we wanted them in. We then realised that
there wasn’t a strong sense of continuity and flow in order to provide a clear sense of the
story. Whilst doing our opening sequence we made sure that as a group we had enough
footage. This was to make sure that if we wanted to change a scene as it didn’t work well
throughout the whole opening sequence we had back up clips.

4. Editing Process:
• Some people within the group were more aware and knowledgeable about how to
use the software such as Adobe Premier Pro. This then allowed the rest of the group
to understand the steps and processes that would need to be taken when uploading
and editing the footage that we do have.
• When it came to our opening sequence initially it was difficult and we had to ask for
help many times as we were not 100% confident with the software. It was the process
of learning as we went along and learning from our mistakes in order to create and
produce a final opening sequence that we wanted. It also allowed us to identify who
had the most understanding of editing and the whole software to initially take control
in order for the rest of the group to learn. The level of knowledge and skills that were
used in the pre lim to the opening sequence has dramatically changed as we went
from not knowing anything about this software to knowing the in’s and out’s about it.

5. Working As A Team:
•In the preliminary sequence we all worked extremely well even as we didn’t know
each other that well and was new to this whole process. Everyone was more than
willing to listen to everyone’s input in order to assist to create a goof first attempt in
filming. Everyone had an attempt at filming, editing and directing in order to gain
the right skills and knowledge that would be required when we would be filming for
our coursework.
•When it came to our opening sequence everyone in our group of three got along
extremely well which then lead us to feel as if we were able to say our own opinions
or views on how things could be done without offending anyone. I believe that
everyone put the same amount of effort in but just in different aspects within this
whole process of making our opening sequence, for example, Gabi was acting and
assisted with the music aspect, Danielle knew much more about the camera and the
different features of it, I was adding my directorial aspects into what we wanted as a
group as a final message.

6. Evaluation Process:
• After creating our preliminary task I realised how important it is to get feedback
about what really worked and what didn’t. This really assisted me as it helped me
to be more critical and to see my work from an outsiders point of view and to not
think that my work is excellent just because I played an input in it. This helped me
to gain the skills of picking out the flaws and seeing any little detail that maybe
seen by an outsider as they don’t know the story or the process that was taken to
produce this preliminary task.
• When gaining feedback from our opening sequence it was overall very positive
which was a real boost of confidence for everyone in the group. However, there
were also some flaws that was stated which was a real eye opener for us as they
saw certain things or moments that didn’t work that we didn’t see. This helped us
to be more observant and to keep on asking feedback from members in our class
whenever we updated or changed anything to see if what we changed was for the
better or not.