Preliminary task to the main product - what have we learnt?

Our group had a fairly naive approach to the preliminary task. We were lacking in basic knowledge of shots and struggled with the task of making all of the shots flow together. During the editing process we also found that we had neglected the 180 degree rule at first, so we had to rely on our editing skills to mirror the shot to give the illusion that Ryan was walking in the right direction. Even so, we eventually grasped the 180 degree rule after shooting some unrecorded shots.

In comparison with the main task, we feel that we have vastly improved the mise en scene and props included in our work by going into much more detail of character representation. This can be seen by the contrasting locations that the two characters are shown in our actual film clip, which represents their status in the film. The characters also differentiate in the clothes that they are wearing, as Callum is dressed in a footballers attire, whereas Josh is not.

Our group also learnt the importance of high and low key lighting in the production process, as all of our filming took place outdoors, which is much different to being in a well- lit building.

There was also difficulty in filming around the weather. Regular weather checks had to be made by continually observing accurate and up-to date forecasting. Even so, we still had to work fast on some of the days, as a sudden, unpredicted burst of rain could affect the whole days filming.

We also realized that we needed to step up the quality of our dialogue as it was a key part in our main task as opposed to our preliminary task film. The dialogue, along with the narration, would help to describe what was happening in the film, as opposed to our preliminary task film.

The storyline for our main task was much deeper and in-depth than our preliminary, so we worked hard at translating the written script into actual creative images, as we knew that doing this was key to picturing our shots before shooting began. This was much harder, as we had to try and represent the characters emotions and position in society through the four technical codes. So, in that respect, we have definitely learnt about character representations on screen.

Overall, we have improved vastly in all stated areas in comparison to the preliminary task which has led to a far better film with a much more consistent structure.