Pre-production involved watching example tasks to understand standards, discussing a simple storyline about peer pressure, and storyboarding shots to include required features. During production, planning allowed efficient filming with a tripod to capture steady shots. Post-production was a learning experience of editing techniques like cutting and adding transitions between clips, sound balancing, and exporting the final film. Reflecting, the strengths were music, varied shots, and clip transitions, while improvements could include using a tripod more and experimenting with software.

1. REFLECTING UPON MY
PRELIMINARY TASK
PRE-PRODUCTION
Pre-production was a vital stage in producing my preliminary task. Before even beginning to plan our
own production, we watched some preliminary tasks people had produced previously which was
incredibly beneficial and really put into perspective the standard of which our production needed to
be and gave the group some good ideas. After this my group discussed our storyline which we
decided for the purpose of the task we would keep simple and based the short film around Liam
being peer-pressured into something he didn’t want to do. This way we could concentrate more on
features such as shot types, angles etc. We decided it would be beneficial to storyboard our short
film and that way we could really ensure the compulsory shot types would be included in our final
piece. In our planning time we also scripted our dialogue so we could really get a feel of what our
final production was going to be like and we also found that knowing our lines gave the production a
sense of realism. With limited time and knowing we could only film within the school we decided to
use many aspects of the school such as classrooms, corridors and the outside surroundings to ensure
we were using the setting to the best of our ability and to give variety of different backgrounds.
PRODUCTION
Due to our good level of planning such as storyboarding our film, we knew that we could film our
footage efficiently without it being too time consuming and therefore having more time to edit the
production. When filming we were always conscious that our shots were framed well and we soon
realised that using a tripod would be more effective in ensuring that our shots were steady. Using
the tripod was incredibly beneficial to our film. To make our production interesting to watch we
used a variety of different camera shots and made sure we included the compulsory features such as
including Liam walking through the door and including the “shot reverse shot” feature. I would say
our filming process was incredibly well-organized as we set out knowing exactly what we wanted to
film and we filmed some effective shots.
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2. This is my example of “shot reverse shot” where we see Liam going through the door from outside of
the classroom which then switches to show him coming into the classroom. So the movement is
shown from two different perspectives. I think this made my film interesting. However I had to be
careful in ensuring the transition between the two was smooth. I particularly like the contrast from
showing Liam from a low angle then to a high angle.
POST-PRODUCTION
I feel my post-production stage in which I edited my film was a real learning curve for me. I learnt
how to use the “serif” software as I had only used iMovie to make films in the past. I feel the most
valuable skill I learnt was the means of cutting down my clips to show certain parts of the action
more clearly. Another skill I learnt was to add in transitions between clips to make the cut from one
clip to another smoother and in one instance I used a transition to show a passing of time. I was also
aware of cutting my clips effectively so the transitions between were smoother. Towards the
beginning of my film, I inserted text onto a black background. I thought the text would help to set
the scene and tone of the film and the red text stood out against the black background. The fact the
text was red could also be a connotation of anger and alarm which tied in with the theme of my
production. After I was happy with how my film flowed and told the narrative I set about adding
sound and music. In many of my clips I muted the natural sounds such as other children around the
school as I felt they took away from my film and in some instances such as the dialogue between the
two characters I increased the volume. After this I inserted some non-copyright dramatic music into
my film as I feel it related well to the theme of my piece. Again I looked at the sounds from the clips
and the music itself and worked to create a balance between the two. In some cases such as the
conversation between me and Liam, the dialogue was at a high volume and the music was playing
quietly in the background. However in some instances, the dramatic music was louder. This tended
to be when the action was intense like when Liam sprayed the bottle. After this I continued to watch
my film and tweak tiny parts such as sounding issues to ensure the film was done to the best of my
ability before I exported it to YouTube.
IMPROVEMENTS
Overall I feel my preliminary task was successful especially as it was my first time using the “Serif”
software. I feel my film was particularly strong in the following areas:
The choice of music
The variety of shot types
The transition between clips
However I feel there are some improvements that could of benefited my film and made it even more
successful and next time I come to produce a film, I will take into considering these improvements:
Ensuring the tripod was used when filming ALL footage.
Trying more complex and interesting shots.
Trying a different movie software to see which I prefer and will therefore be more beneficial
and effective when editing.