The filmmakers used an iPad to film their preliminary task, which provided good quality footage but resulted in some issues with fingers blocking the microphone. They storyboarded in pre-production but could have benefited from better time management. In filming, they learned about proper lighting. iMovie was used for editing and worked well despite some uploading issues. The completed task met all the criteria of including dialogue between characters entering and sitting in a room. Overall, the filmmakers learned thorough planning and use of professional equipment allows for a successful film project.

1. Preliminary Task Evaluation

2. How effective was the pre-production
workflow for your preliminary task?
During our pre-production, Turtle Films worked
thoroughly on the story board and planning
the camera shots. This helped us during
filming because there was no discussion or
disagreements over where people were
standing, what they were doing etc. I don’t
think we completed everything in good time
though and I think we would’ve benefitted
from staying on task in lessons and completed
work outside of school.

3. What technology did you use to film the
task and how well did things go?
We used an Apple iPad to film the preliminary task.
This helped us a lot because apple are a good,
professional, good-quality brand name with good
products, so all the footage was good in picture
quality etc. The only problems we encountered
were sometimes having our fingers over the mic
– a problem that was quickly solved, and we had
to endure that we filmed vertically. If we filmed
horizontally, the picture would be stretched and
look silly and un-realistic.

4. What did you learn from the actual filming that
you will need to think about in the future?
During the filming we picked up on a lot of
things that we hadn’t thought of before hand,
such as making sure the lighting was correct –
even though we had considered the basic
lighting strategies, we didn’t think about
filming in front of windows and small lights
etc, which causes a problem regarding faces or
objects being over-exposed or flushed out.

5. What technology did you use to edit your
preliminary task and how well did this go?
We used iMovie to edit our preliminary task.
This went well because it was easy to use and
not too complex – we are quite inexperienced
and therefore something simple but
professional was just right for us. We
encountered some problems with the uploads
of our pieces of footage, but once shown how
to do so we were ok.

6. How well does your completed preliminary task
meet the criteria set out for it?
Our preliminary task had to include footage of a
character opening a door, walking into a room
and sitting down opposite a character &
exchanging a few lines of dialogue. Our
preliminary task included all of this, as well as
including match on action, shot/reverse shot
and the 180-degree rule, which were also a
requirement.

7. What do you think, overall, you have learnt
from the process of completing the preliminary
task?
Overall I think we have learnt that if you plan
something enough, and know what you need
to include in it, then you will be able to make
a successful piece of film without much
trouble. With the help of professional
equipment such as iPads and iMovie, making
films is a very interesting, thorough process.