Our preliminary task

OUR FILM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvl_MsRKnIk

WEAKNESSES IN PRELIMINARY

When watching our preliminary task back, we can see many weaknesses that we have improved on throughout the making of our opening sequence one being the camera; when filming our preliminary task we can see the shots are very unsteady and shaky one shows the unprofessionalism that it acquires. We can see from the preliminary task that the tracking shot is just me walking closer to James; but after finishing our final film, we now know the camera has a zooming in function that would better fit the preliminary task. Also we have now realised that we can use tripods when filming, this would keep the camera shots steady and make the film look more professional.

Also when watching our preliminary task back we have seen that the sound differs throughout the film. In part of it we can hear James walking and when we get a close shot of James's hand pulling the door we can hear beeping from a car in the background. This makes the film look to de-similar to the rest of the shots as the sound differs from quiet to loud.

WEAKNESSES IN PRELIMINARY

Also within our preliminary task we can see that the post-production isn't

very good. When watching the task we can see that the editing is very

jumpy and isn’t smooth from each shot, which shows us that the post-

production didn’t go very well either.

As well as this we can also see that the acting skills aren’t as good as our

final film. One reason for this is because the actors look at the camera

when walking in and out of the door and smile at the camera; this

means that the actors are breaking the fourth wall, so the audience

think the actors are looking at them when watching it. Again, the acting

skills weren't up to scratch which made the film seem unrealistic

HOW WE OVERCOME THESE IN OUR FINAL FILM

Unsteady and shaky shots – After reviewing the task footage we realised that tripods could be used when making the real opening sequence. After using the tripods we could see that shots we smoother when moving the camera as well as the shots not being shaky as the camera was held by a steady tripod making it look more professional in post-production.

Zooming function – After realising that the camera had a zooming function attached, we found it much easier to do tracking shots and made it look more professional. But when reviewing the footage we realised that zooming shots took too long in the film so we overcame this by switching to mid shots, long shots, close ups, to get the sense that the character is far away.

Sound - When watching the preliminary task we could see that each shot differed in sound. So by seeing this we did some research on post-production, and Final Cut Pro and realised ways of making sound the same in each shot. One way was adding sound effects, deleting all of the clip sound and adding background sound and dialogue after and lip syncing the dialogue with the actor, which we used in the making of our film.

HOW WE OVERCOME THESE IN OUR FINAL FILM

Editing/Post-production – When editing the final product together we

needed a little bit of practice and also we needed to know how top add

features such as Slow motion and transitions, to make each shoot and

scene effective and make it look professional. So by practicing at home

on shots we did by ourselves we could develop those skills that we

transformed at home to our AS work within the school period.

Acting Skills – When seeing the acting skills on the low we decided to act

on it quick to make sure we could start the making of our film as soon

as possible. As I take A-Level drama, I thought that by having the skills

we could use me as a cheap and efficient way to put across my skills to

the actors and also this would make our film look more professional as

we are not breaking the fourth wall.

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNT

Overall from the start of our preliminary task we have learnt unthinkable

skills that we wouldn't even think of being to be able to do 3 months

ago.

We have learnt many skills within the post-production such as sound

effects, transitions, and special effects. We have also learnt the amount

of equipment available to use to make the shots look realistic as well as

making them look steady and unshaky.

We have learnt all of these skills to make our film look more professional as

well as making it a successful film to watch.