Question 7

I feel I have learnt and progressed a lot from the start of the prelim task to the end of our main task.

Pre production

In the prelim task, because we only had one location and only had a couple of hours to shoot, we didn’t really have a shooting schedule. However, the problem we encountered with this is that when asked what time we’d be finished (such as by the cast) we weren’t really able to give a definite answer. We learnt from this, and so ensured we had everything scheduled in our main task using a shooting schedule, which was especially useful because we had several different locations to shoot in, as well as the fact that filming was spread out over 2 days.

Casting for our prelim task was quite simple and easy, as we could ask people we already knew, and it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to fit into their own schedules (as filming took place after school and only took a few hours). However, casting for the main task was a bit more difficult. Because whoever we used had to be able to get off of school timetable for 2 days, we were unable to use any of the people we knew in sixth form, so needed to find someone in one of the younger years who was willing to take part. We did cast an actor and begin rehearsals with him, but he then chose to drop out a few days before shooting began, so we had to cast and rehearse with another actor to take his place. What this has taught me is that it is important to always have a plan B, as when filming anything can go wrong, but you need to be able to come up with a solution. A similar situation took place during the pre-production stage of our main task one of our group members dropped out of our media class. As a result we, again, had to think on our feet and delegate the remaining tasks between the 2 of us. 

Production

Through preparation for the prelim, we were taught about the importance of total shots, which we especially appreciated during editing, as it makes continuity much smoother. This is something we also carried on into the main task. However, there were some instances where simply doing total shots wasn’t enough to ensure continuity. For example, in the shots taken at my house, there were some takes where we could hear my dog barking in the background. We were able to make a note of which takes were affected using continuity sheets, which made editing a lot quicker.

Another thing I learnt from my experience in the prelim task that I was able to apply was the idea of trying to use more camera movement, as in the prelim the only movement is a short but simple panning shot. Therefore, we chose to uses some different panning shots – such as not only from side to side, but also up and down – as well as using a tracking shot, which we weren’t too sure about because we didn’t have much experience using tracking pads before hand, but after some practice we did get the hang of using them and did decide to use the shot I our final edit.

One thing that I definitely learnt through the prelim is that having a wide variety of shots is never a bad thing, as the one thing I would change about the prelim would be to add a wider variety of shots. So, whenever we finished shooting a planned shot in less takes than expected and had extra time until our next scheduled shot, we’d do some different creative shots, such as to film the same thing, but from an alternate angle. In the long run, I’m really glad we did, as quite a few of those extra shots did end up in the final cut of the opening. Some examples of these extra shots are the shot taken from a low angle where Ashley throws the crumpled up paper at the camera, the 2 panning shots around the classroom and the point of view shot when he wakes up.

Post Production/ Feedback

I feel like a lot of the skills for post production and a lot of the feedback we got on the prelim task applied to the main task, but on a larger scale. For example, we had some experience with credits from the prelim, but kept it relatively simple, where as in the main task we needed to apply transitions/ effects etc. to make the credits more effective.

Also, we learnt a lot more about how to transition between different shots, such as when we faded between the shots of him getting out of bed and walking along the pavement to school. This meant we didn’t have to include shots of his entire morning routine, which would have made our opening to long, as well as probably less interesting for the audience.

Another thing we learnt to use on this project was to alter colour filters on the different shots. For example while the shots of him in school looked good on the LCD as we were shooting, because of the bright lighting thy contrasted too much with the shots of him at home and weren’t eerie enough in comparison. To even this out and mae the overall look more interesting, we put a kind of dull blue-tinted filter over the scenes where he is at school, as this differentiates these shots from the ones at home, yet makes the overall look of the opening more coherent.

The only real feedback we were given (by both our teacher and by others) was to make the opening have a bit more of an eerie vibe to it. We thought the best way to achieve this was to change the colour filters, making the overall look more grey and serious and less like a moody teenager getting on with a normal school day. If I could change anything about our opening sequence, it would be that we would have encouraged our actor to (all irony aside) be a bit more dramatic. If we had done so, I feel our opening could have been even more effective in drawing the audience’s attention.