Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt

in the progression to the full product?

Since the prelim I have a lot more knowledge about different forms of media, to then be able to present my research using these. I also now know what a convention is and how, you can tell what genre the film is by spotting these quite subconsciously throughout the film. As well as this I know more about certain editing techniques, and how you can again tell what genre the film is from this. Additionally, researching similar Rom-Coms has proved really useful and helped me to gain more of an insight into this genre. Such as looking at the costumes, music and titles featured in similar Rom-Com films. Alongside learning about narrative hooks and how to keep your audience interested, when we started the prelim we were using very basic editing techniques such as match on action, shot reverse shot and 180° rule. Now in our film opening we are using much more skilled, complex techniques for example colour correcting, continuity editing and smoother cuts.

As well as this I also think that the camera work looks a lot more professional in our media product, than it did in our prelim. An example of this is the establishing shot because, in the prelim it’s just a shot of a wall, which doesn’t come across as very enticing to an audience and it doesn’t tell them anything about what they are about to watch. Where as the establishing shot in the media product is a wide shot of the bandstand in the park, where the intro to our film is set. So the audience realise straight away that this could be a Rom-Com, from the shot of our setting. Another camera technique that we have improved on is panning, as in the prelim it doesn’t flow very smoothly and the shot isn’t framed very well. However in the media product it’s really smooth and the shots are framed well, as the characters are always in the middle of the shot with enough head room. When we filmed for the opening we also learnt from the prelim that we needed to film everything, as the more footage you have the better. And it also saves you having to go out and film odd bits again. So on a personal note, I have a whole new view on media from making this product and learning a lot of various things along the way.