Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at my preliminary task (above), I have picked up on so many camera and editing mistakes and have now learnt so many new skills and gained so much more knowledge about the software and thriller industry since then.
When we originally started filming the prelim, I had no experience with using the camera and the camera's equipment and therefore felt unconfident about producing the piece. But, we were all aware that the task wasn't going to be at a high or professional standard, again to us not having the experience, so we saw the preliminary as an opportunity to learn new skills and techniques instead of it being a well-produced and professional task. After being shown how to use the technologies, I quickly picked up the techniques and was ready to apply my knowledge and understanding into the actual opening sequence. Throughout the preliminary task the footage is to a poor standard and very blurry, this was due to us not knowing how to focus the camera's lense or how to adjust the lighting to make the footage brighter. However, I have now learnt how to do these tasks because my peers and teachers taught me by; firstly by showing me and then by watching me use the camera on my own and advising and correcting my actions. In addition, the footage at times is very wobbly/shaky and this was because a tripod wasn't used to support the camera when filming the prelim. However, in our final extract, we ensured that a tripod was used to make our quality more clear and to prevent the footage from shaking. Also in our preliminary task, the lighting is very un-natural and too harsh, and in some scene's there are unwanted shadows that appear over our bodies and faces, making the quality again look unprofessional. However whilst recording our actual opening sequence, the light bulb blew and resulted in us having to use natural lighting, which we feared would lower the grade of our extract. Although after viewing the footage back and applying a black and white filter over the top of the footage, we found that the video looked better without the lighting as it looked more natural and realistic, instead of being harsh. Furthermore, after watching the prelim back, I have noticed the lighting stand in the background, which isn't meant to be visible on camera, and therefore makes the preliminary look un-professional.
Another point to note is that I am now able to successfully edit footage, whereas the editing of the prelim task is very poor and I am able to pick up on a numerous amount mistakes. For example, at the start of the extract, I share some dialogue, but due to slowing the footage down, my voice had been deepened and has made me sound robotic and un-natural. The reason for this is because, I wasn't aware that I had to detach the audio from the footage first and then add then slow the footage down, but again this is something I have now learnt. Also simple mistakes were made, such as cropping too much off a scene resulting in the end of the dialogue being cut out. The reason for this was due to us not knowing how to be precise when cropping the footage and also we were rushing to complete the task, therefore we didn't put much effort into the editing. However, I now know that this will affect your grade significantly if the editing is wrong and that putting in minimal effort won't result in a good grade. Furthermore, whilst editing the actual opening sequence, we ensured that there wasn't any simple mistakes/errors. Also in the preliminary, the audio doesn't fade in and out and therefore doesn't sound natural or flows. However, after being taught how to include transitions over the audio such as the fade in and out, I wa sable to imput the transitions in the actual opening sequnece, which was something that I didn't know how to do when editing the preliminary task.
