The student learned several skills in progressing from their preliminary task to the full short film. They learned to plan shots better and experiment with different angles, use match-on-action cuts, and add titles. They also learned the importance of lighting, such as filming inside instead of at night. Costume details became more important too. Areas for further improvement included focusing skills, smoother editing, and adding special effects.

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?
Victim
My first preliminary task, I set it in a house
and on the street creating a victim and
follower. The victim leaves the house and
begins to walk down the road, then
someone starts to follow her, wearing all
black in a hoodie, and getting closer and
closer. It builds suspense when the follower disappears, so the victim goes
home thinking their safe. The follower then appears in the garden, hiding
round the corner and captures the victim. It then goes to a different scene,
where the victim is tied up with a pillow case and is struggling to escape, the
follower then reveals herself to then blackout. This was also a thriller genre
film, as I focussed on trying to get the suspense very intense.
Shots
In this short film, I did a lot of
experimenting with the different shots
trying out different angles and getting the
focus right.
I used focussed on getting the shots one
after the other, in a chase like way, so I
had to constantly film the same thing in
different positions. I used match on
action, so when the victim turned
around from the front, we could see her
reaction from the back from the
followers point of view which I was
aiming for.

2. Some of my shots were very shaky, as I didn’t used a tripod I just held to
camera and followed alongside them. This meant you could hear my footsteps
and my shadows which I found in my outtakes, especially when I followed
behind.
I also tried doing a 180 degree shot, where I
showed a very short conversation with my
two actors, this was the weakest part of my
film as it wasn’t clear and it wasn’t a proper
conversation.
In my film, I had already planned my shots,
which I didn’t with my preliminary task. I
shots used changed a lot, so I used more close ups and flicked quickly between
shots, whereas for this I had an order.
I also used titles in my film, which I hadn’t used in my preliminary task, which
was a new skill I learnt.
Lighting
As I was filming outside, I wanted to film when it was dark
outside. I tried it but the shots weren’t clear enough. It made
a huge difference filming in the day time, which I took into
consideration for my final film, which I filmed all inside so

3. there was no natural light.
The shots I also filmed inside also weren’t clear enough, I didn’t think about
the lighting. Due to the location I was filming in, this was the only place I could
use as I wanted to create a dark basement with a single light, but this wasn’t
available. So I used a hallway of a house only using natural light. I learnt a lot
about how important to think about the lighting of the location to start with,
as it really affects the quality of the picture, which I also found in my final film.
Costumes
In my prelim I didn’t really think about
my costumes for the actors in great
detail, I knew I wanted the person
following to be dressed in all black
with a covered face, and the victim
looking like a normal everyday
teenager.
In my final film, I went into much more detail in what I wanted from the actors,
and the message it would portray from what they wore. I had to use two lab
coats to show they were scientists, as I wanted them to look very similar so
they looked equal but still so you could tell them apart.
Focussing
The focussing in my prelim worked for some
shots but not for others, from the camera I used I
found it easier for focus, but the shot angle would
have improved the focus much more if I had
changed it. For example, this over the shoulder
shot, I had tried to focus mainly on the victim
with the follower out of focus but found both
were out of the focus. If I had changed the distance, the victim would have
been in a clearer view.

4. What could I improve on?
Focussing is still something I could improve on, as in my final film I found that
still some shots are out of focus. This will come when I have much more
practise with a camera. I could also improve of my editing, as I my prelim I
found it easy to film the shot after shot then piece them together, whereas in
my final piece trying to chop and change it created transitions that weren’t
smooth, and missing actions missing out pieces so that it didn’t flow. I also
would like to improve on my special effects, as I didn’t include any in my films
which is something I would like to learn about in the future.