Evaluation Question 7

"Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?" 


Mollie Musgrove:
We did a preliminary task before we started are course work to get are head around how to use a camera with a tripod and all the angles and shots you can do with it. We also all got to have a go at editing and playing around with sound and effects. This was to help us get as familiar as possible with the Mac computers we were using as some people where not very confident on them and the programs it provided. I feel I have learnt an awful lot since then when doing are own opening as there is more pressure for you to do it yourself and think for yourself instead of letting others do it for you. 

Below is the video of the my  preliminary task I did at the beginning of the year  also with snapshots of both my final opening sequence and the preliminary task to compare them. 

1) Mid Shot 

This a mid shot of my preliminary task where you can clearly see environment talking to a friend. So our group adapted this to show the actor in outside a house talking to her friends and you can see all her facial expressions very clearly. 

2)Match On Action shot

 When filming are match on action shot for are preliminary task It took us a lot of retakes to get it right and even then the editing to get it in time after was very tricky and very time consuming but I feel it looks very effective. However In our opening sequence we took a lot of time editing ours and re-filming so due to are hard work I think our match on action looks more or less pot on.  

3)Lighting 

In this shot reverse shot In are preliminary task the lighting with the two characters was different in each shot. That was due to standard lighting in the building and couldn't change that. We tried to edit the lighting on the Mac after but it still didn't look the same. However In are opening sequence we were fortunate enough to have a member of are group who owned two translucent lighting umbrellas so the lighting in the room never changed. 

4) Mise en scene

The use of mise en scene In our opening sequence was a key factor to of remembered as the twins in our project where meant to be as different and unique as possible. So costume and props where a key to show their different personalties. How ever in my Preliminary task we also had a sense of stereotypical social group. As we set the two characters In our preliminary task in a school setting with school blazers and sticky notes all over them to show they were "nerdy" type people. We also made the two characters In are preliminary task have posh accents to add the their characters. 

.. Becky: I origionally worked with Kimmy on my Preliminary task and I feel we have improved a lot. Firstly we have a wider variety of shots from different angles, we also took many takes of each shot till we got the perfect one where as before we just went with the ones we took straight away. We have developed our editing skills as we now know how to do split screens,our match on action shots have also improved from before. We used translucent umbrellas to improve the lighting where as before we had to improvise with the lighting in the room which has also improved our work since. I also used live type where as before we just went with really simple credits from Imovie this has helped improve the look of the opening sequence and make it look more proffesional. In our opening sequence we also made sure our mise en scene was correct for our genre all the way through by using props such as the emo back pack in contrast with the girly handbag,clothing, alarm clocks, etc where as before the only prop used was a lamp and we didn't use certain clothing to fit the scenerio in the film.

Mise En Scene in our preliminary task wasn't used very well. The costume didn't fit with the scenario as the outfit looked very casual instead of the outfit a policemen should wear. Our costumein our opening sequence is good compared to the preliminary task as we went into detail on what they should be wearing to fit in with the genre of the film and the time it was set. The dressing gown and pjs show the time of the film, then when they get changed it shows time has past, it also gives identity to the Twins as one has 'goth' clothes and the other 'girly girl' so it sets them apart.

Props were rarely used in the preliminary task only basic props were used to show what the scenario was other wise it would have just looked like two people sitting in a room, in contrast to the prop use in our opening sequence. We used a lot of props to make it look more realistic and show the characters personalities. For example we used the guitar and a big backpack for the 'goth' twin and her friend where as we used a little handbag and make up for the 'girly girl'.

In our preliminary project we used very basic simple credits. Although we used some simple looking credits in our opening sequence a lot of thought went in to them such as did it fit the genre, what colour & font would go best. We also decided to use visual credits such as writing on the envelope and text on the phone to make them more interesting and unique.