QUESTION 7
Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Creating 'State of Mind'
Planning
When creating 'State of Mind' we realised, from the troubles faced in the preliminary task, that detailed planning is a necessity. During the prelim task we were rushed for time and didn't that that we needed to plan for it. We thought that having a camera was good enough and that we could just improvise. That was very wrong and because of it we spent a lot of time deciding which angles we should film from and the shot sizes. That wasted a lot of time and that is why when filming our final product we took the time to create and re-draft many storyboards. This included shot sizes, angles and how long we should film in one shot. The planning was not only helpful during filming but also while editing because we knew what order we wanted it to be in. Planning made the process easier and also quicker. Along with storyboards a part of planning meant researching the genre of thrillers. This was extremly important becasue in the preliminary task it didnt really fit into a set genre which meant the shot angles were random but because this product was a thriller every shot had to convey a thriller atmosphere to it.
Filming
While filming the preliminary task we improvised and did not have a set script. This was bad because when re-taking the shots there was no continuity because the words were never the same. This is why when filming our final product we had a written script so the actors would say the same line when re-filming any shots. The script was another good way to really make our product a thriller. We tried to add thriller conventions such as high tension and an eerie feeling. While filming the preliminary task we did not pay much attention to lighting and although it was filmed in the day there were times when you could not clearly see the actors. This became a bit of an issue because we filmed at night to get that thriller feel; however we used a light to see our actors and had to change locations at one point becuase it was too dark. While filming our final product we made sure to take at least three takes of each shot this was because, as learned from doing our prelim task, there may be issues such as people getting in the way.
Editing
Editing the prelim task was reckless as we did not know what order we wanted it to be in. However the final product had a smoother and faster editing process as we were more comfortable with imovie and the transitions needed to make it have a thriller feeling. Titles created for the prelim task was very basic and was taken from a template from imovie. The final product however was more professional and done on livetype. We took inspiration from other thriller films such as Psycho and The Fight Club. The prelim task did not have a soundtrack which if done again we would put, this is because it sounded very raw without it. The soundtrack we created for our final product had thriller conventions and suited well with the over all tone of the film.
Shots
We have learned a lot about camera shots and angles from when we made the preliminary task. The match on action shots in the prelim task was good however the 180 degree rule was not great, that is why in our final product we made sure to improve on it. An example of a match on action shot in our final product was our main character stepping on a puddle. This was better that the one in our prelim gtask because not only was it clear but it was also inconjunction with the thriller genre. Angles in the prelim task were very random and experimental as we did not have much practise. In our final product the angles used was not as experimant but rather concise to the effect we needed it to make.
Camera
Our camera skills were very poor when filming our preliminary task. We were not steady and often had background noise. While filming our final product we used tripods to make the filming easier and this helped with editing as well. Using the camera as well has been improved, while also being aware of any hazards. These include tripping from the tripod.