Looking back on our prelim is very funny because I can see just how much my media ability has progressed. I can see in our first prelim that some of the shots are not white balanced (the shot of the clock is totally tinted blue) and we missed an entire scene out when we were filming so it looks like Jenny just appears across the table from me. This means the continuity is exceptionally questionable.
Now I have learnt how to correctly use a DSLR camera to get footage which looks as much like real life as possible. I can do this by adjusting my white balance and my ISO which I didn't understand when we made the prelim.
I've also learnt how to edit better by using transitions, titles and filters to make the footage look as interesting as possible for the audience whilst creating a very clear plot line which can be easily understood.
I've also learnt how to use microphones when recording my dialogue to make the sound clearer and more professional. This comes across when you compare the speech in the beginning of my film opening and in the news report to that which we recorded in the prelim.
I've now learnt how to use the manual focus on a DSLR to do push and pull focuses to vary the footage and create different moods and effects. This was all new to me and I have learnt in the process of filming, not during my prelim.
I also learnt how to use a bigger range of shots including wide shots and tracking shots which I didn't use in my prelim. This is because I became more familiar with the use the camera and the effect my angles and shot types would have. I was therefore able to manipulate my effect through my camera work.
In our prelims we had no non-diegetic sound. This meant we didn't have to learn how to use 'Garage Band' to compose our own soundtracks to run under the action we filmed. For my opening I did do this and spent many hours trying out different layers of instruments to create the perfect underscore for my film. This increases the impact the action has as sound effects us on a level visual stimulation never can so the soundtrack adds another dimension to the sequence, creating a more impactful performance.
Not only have I learnt how to improve my technical skills, but I've also improved with my work behind the scenes. Producing a film opening on my own meant I had to plan everything that needed doing exceptionally intricately to ensure that every step got completed. This required multiple sheets of paper containing the synopsis, scene by scene breakdowns, shot lists, filming schedules, character profiles, location scouts and prop lists.
We just filmed our prelim in school in an empty room so this required no location scouts at all. Conversely, for my opening I needed very specific settings to achieve verisimilitude in my opening to make the story understandable. This was very difficult, especially finding somewhere to film the hospital scene, as it was a very specific location which is difficult to replicate without being in an actual clinical environment. However, I managed to create it in our school disabled bathroom by using clever angles and realistic costumes and props.
It was a massive job which I managed to organise smoothly so everything got done and was ready for editing. I could not have done this when I made my prelim, I simply didn't have the knowledge or any concept of how big a job creating films is and I never would have been able to organise the amount of things required for the production of a film opening by myself.
I have also learnt loads about pre-production and everything that goes into the creation of a story for film. Before my prelim we did absolutely no research about the genre or target audience whereas, for my film opening, I had to do extensive audience research to discover the best target audience for my film and then tailored my film opening to appeal to them in order to create something that would have increased ticket sales and profits.
I also had to do loads of research into the genre I had picked - a crime thriller - to discover the genre conventions and then decide how to conform to them and where it would be beneficial to break the usual conventions. I closely looked into shot types, camera angles, casting, sound, fonts, titles, credits and mis-en-scene in order to have a well developed knowledge of the genre I was working in to ensure my film opening could be clearly defined as a crime thriller.
I also looked into the history of crime thrillers and famous directors in the genre to give me a well rounded understanding of what I was working within so I could do this to the best of my abilities.
I also had to learn how to direct actors. In our prelim we (painfully) acted in it ourselves so we knew exactly what we were doing and where we needed to be. There was also no casting involved, no consideration of how we wanted the characters to look and no script or character profiles to create and familiarise ourselves with.
When I created my opening I cast other actors so had to go through the process of deciding on the age and appearance I wanted my characters to have. Then I had to create scripts for them to learn and schedule my filming around their availability. I was working with other people, mostly with Lucy, and trying to convey my vision to her so she could portray it as I'd imagined. This was difficult as I had a specific idea about the character I wanted to create so I wrote a character profile to try an help her understand and develop Emma. The filming took many takes and re-shoots as I was trying to talk to Lucy and make sure she was acting the way I wanted her to whilst also concentrating on the camera and making sure everything was right including the white balance, ISO and most difficultly, the manual focus.
At the beginning I also worked with Alannah who is only 7 and I was trying to direct her in a way she'd understand and respond to. This was challenging but we got there eventually and I was really happy with the final shot.
When I created my prelim I did no rough cuts, only one final cut. This was because I had very little experience with editing and I received no audience feedback which I could use to help me improve my final product. Whereas, for my opening, I did 7 rough cuts, each one being improved with my own criticism and that provided through feedback from my target audience. Therefore my final product is much more fine-tuned and tailored to achieve it's intention of appealing to my specific target audience than my prelim which was just a stab in the dark.
The editing process was much longer overall for the film opening rather than the prelim because there were a lot more complicated things to add (such as transitions, filters and sound effects) and more footage to deal with. I also had to add on company credits and titles, none of which I did for my prelim, which added on time as they were more things to learn. When creating my titles I learnt how to use 'After Effects' to animate the letters and 'Illustrator' to create the exact text I'd imagined.
I also learnt how to use 'Photoshop' when creating my ident (another thing I didn't have to do for my prelim).
Overall I have learnt so much since our preliminary task, it was very rough, the filming wasn't brilliant and even the editing couldn't save the huge mistakes in our continuity. From there I've learnt how to make a pretty professional looking film opening, using the DSLRs properly to get footage which looks like real life, 'FinalCut Pro' to edit my opening into an entertaining and understandable sequence, work with actors successfully to create believable characters, and plan and research to make sure that, were my film to be released, it would be successful at the box office.
Overall in this process I have learnt how to:
-Set up a blog on Blogger
-Compose blog posts
-Embed pictures and videos into my blog
-Organise my blog using templates, layouts and link lists
-Set up a youtube account
-Upload videos to youtube
-Edit them by changing titles, descriptions and thumbnails
-How to create a persuasive presentation to effectively pitch my film idea
-Use DSLR cameras to collect raw footage
-Change settings on the cameras such as ISO and white balance and understand the effect this will have on my footage
-Use manual focus to make sure the footage is crisp and clear (making sure the eyes are in focus) but also doing focus changes such as push and pull focus' for dramatic effect
-How to use a green screen and getting the correct amount of natural light on it to make sure it's effective
-How to then change the green screen to any background I desire using 'Final Cut Pro'
-How to use 'Photoshop' 'Illustrator' and 'After Effects'
-How to use a microphone to record clear dialogue
-How to edit footage using 'Final Cut Pro' adding effects such as transitions, filters and sound effects to create a cohesive, entertaining, understandable film opening
-How to make credits and titles using 'Final Cut Pro' 'Illustrator' and 'After Effects' (to animate the text)
-How to detach audio from footage in 'Final Cut Pro' to create sound bridges and layer dialogue
-Compose a soundtrack on 'Garage Band'
-Do audience and genre research to identify primary and secondary target audiences create a film opening that fits within a genre and appeals to my specific target audience
-Organise myself and my actors by creating filming timetables to ensure that everything gets done on track and to a high standard
-Create character profiles, shot lists, prop lists and location scouts to ensure I have everything I need for a productive, successful shoot
-Write a screenplay
-Create a storyboard
-Get audience feedback and take the constructive criticism to improve my film to make it the best it can possibly be so it appeals effectively to my target audience
-Learn and understand the meaning of key words such as diegetic and non-deigtetic sound
-Learn the different shot types and camera angles that I could then use when filming my own opening
Overall I have learnt almost everything from scratch on how to make a film opening by myself and I am very proud of what I have managed to achieve.
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