1. 7.Looking back at your preliminary task, how do you feel
you have learnt in the progression from it to the full
product?
At the start of my course we took a trip to the BFI - this was a
talk to help us with our coursework, after this trip I realised
how much work goes into just one short clip for a film. There is
so many different aspects that go into a scene from character
reputation to the angle of shots and mise-en-scene for
example why a pencil is on the table.

2. Life on Mars task
Before our preliminary task, we done a small activity which was too
copy a scene from 'life of mars', this gave us experience of using the
camera and how scenes need to be set. This helped me with my
preliminary task as I learnt about the timing of the scenes, the value
and meaning of each scene. We copied each scene and wrote how long
each shot was and then took out a camera from our media department
and found a great place to film it, from doing this task I learnt how to
use the cameras and although it was a short task I realised how hard it
is to try and film the exact the same shots. I enjoyed doing this task as
it gave me incite of what will be included in the final opening scene.

3. Preliminary task
After having lessons learning about what we needed to include in
the preliminary task, we made a note of what shots we wanted to
include and made sure that we knew exactly what we needed to
add in. Writing down the shots allowed me to have guidance but
also have freedom if I needed too. After we finished filming our
shots we put it onto final cut express and edit the clips. As it had
talking in my clips I didn't add any music. Although this was a small
task I felt like I could of improved on it and felt as though I should of
re done this task just to show my skills more efficiently. In this task I
learnt about the 180 degree rule, match on match action and how
to successfully use shot reverse shot. I never knew film directors
include these in there films which was really interesting to find out
about.

4. Storyboard
Before completing my film opening, we created a still image story
board which included shots of all our scenes that we wanted to
include, we also added our tiles into this scene. I learnt how many
different shots are in a two minute scene, I learnt that I needed to use
many varieties to interest and attract my audience. This task helped
me organize my film as I could play around with the order I wanted the
scenes to appear. I got experience of using Final cut express and I
learnt how to add in titles which would help me reduce the time of
editing my opening scene as I would already know how to add the
titles. I also got to experiment with the titles as I changed the order a
few times. I felt like this task helped us very much as it allowed us to
plan the exact shots and the exact time for the film opening which.
This task helped us learn about Final Cut as we learnt exactly how to
complete our film, doing this task prepared us for the film opening and
I believe without it I wouldn't of been able to complete the film editing
as well as I did.

5. Editing
Before the preliminary task I had barely used Final Cut Pro so I didn't
know how to edit or even use the programme with ease. I felt from the
Life on Mars task all the way to the final film opening that I learnt new
editing skills on each task. I learnt how to do the basic skills on the life
on mars task and at the film opening I learnt so many extra skills eg.
effects, opacity of music. I now feel that I have learnt extreme amounts
of skills on Final Cut that if I made another film in the future I would do
a great job and it would be very easy to complete!

6. Film Opening
The first thing I learnt when researching/learning about film openings was the importance of intriguing the
audience in the first few minutes. I learnt that you must include a important character so the audience are able to
relate, you must include a location, include a important moment which will set the whole films genre/meaning,
these things are so vital as it is what makes the audience stay watching. I learnt the importance of including the
correct titles and the order they appear in. I found this task very hard as I changed my order many times - when
researching titles there was many different orders which were presented which made me very confused but after
getting feedback from my teacher he sent me in the right path of what was correct which I hopefully achieved.
I made sure I showed what genre my film was which I felt was key to an opening to conduct this I included music
which was eery but didn't give too much away. I used dark lighting in my house scenes which showed a thrilling
effect. I also made thought as it was a opening scene I wanted to make sure I left it with a cliff hanger as this
would leave many suspicion of what could happen next which would mean the audience would be keen to watch
the film. The thing I felt that I lacked in this task was the character profile, I didn't want to give too much away
about the character but this meant that I lacked information on the social groups and audiences that I needed to
address. I learnt about how much work goes into each minute of a film and how hard it must be to create a whole
entire film!
I enjoyed making a film opening as it tested my skills of many tasks and I learnt so many new skills and
information about film making which I am extremely interested in.