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

1. Task 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to full product?
I believe that i've learned a lot since the completion of my prelim task. For my prelim task I
mainly took up the role as assistant director, editor and actor. This meant that I got to
experience all sides of filming and editing so when it came to the main task I had experience in,
and got a chance to improve on everything. After looking back at both its clear to see the
improvement on all aspects.
First of all, the quality of the shots that were taken where thought out much better and therefore
turned out much nicer. This was I assume in part to do with the fact that we had better talent as
a director and because everyone pitched in on shot ideas and set up more. This lead to more
well thought out shots and interesting camera angles as everyone was giving ideas and advice
on each shot. I feel that this is visually noticeable when looking at comparisons.
Comparing shots like these you can already see the difference in quality. The prelim shot had
the character walking exclusively on the right of the shot, never once being center frame. We
learnt that this can lead to the audience eyes getting distracted from what they should be
focusing on. While in the case of the other shot from the final task, the character moves across
the middle of the shot, bringing him properly into the audience's focus.
Another reason why I think we improved on the amount of interesting shots is because we
plainly had more time and reason to include them. Our prelim task was a paltry 20 seconds
while our main task stood at 2 minutes and 15 seconds. this meant that we could cram in
several different long shots, close ups, mid shots etc.

2. In our final project, we also got the chance to demonstrate our skills with continuity better. When
filming the prelim we had little time. This lead us to have to film in a room full of people, making
it extremely difficult to stick to continuity. This combined with our very limited experience with
continuity filming at the time lead to the finished prelim task having fairly poor continuity editing
and filming, with sound cutting out, people talking in the background at some points etc. Luckily,
it is clear to see that our ability with this has improved since then. In our final project we ensured
to utilize things such as wild tracks and the closely observe the rules of continuity. One of the
improvements that definitely stood out when it came to editing was our ability with “match on
action”
Our improvement in this area is seen best when looking at the door opening scene from each of
the tasks. It is very clear to see the improvement over time and how the clip from our opening
sequence matched the action far better, helping the audience to properly be drawn into the
world of the film.
As I briefly mentioned previously, we definitely made advances when it
came to editing sound. The volume levels through the prelim task where
all over the place and broke continuity constantly, while the ones in the
opening sequence task were stable throughout. We also ensured to use a
wild track (a recording of white noise from the recording area) to make
sure the background noise stayed consistent. We also demonstrated our
new found skills with sound by using them to set up a scene where the
main character puts in their earphones and begins to listen to music. This
shot was mentioned as a stand out one by the people who watched our
sequence and gave feedback.

3. Finally, although there were many improvements, mistakes were still made. The most prominent
being that fact that in the very first shot of the sequence, you can see the lighting equipment in
the doorway. This is obviously highly unprofessional and was the
result of rushed filming.
In conclusion, I believe that I have learnt a lot since the prelim task.
Weather it be about wildtrack importance, how to do match on
action right, importance of character placement and camera
focus, timetable management or set checking. Over all I believe I have
vastly improved as a media producer.