7. Looking back at your preliminary task, how do you feel you have learnt in the progression from

it to the full product?

At the start of my course we took a trip to the BFI - this was a talk to help us with our coursework, after this trip I realised how much work goes into just one short clip for a film. There is so many different aspects that go

into a scene from character reputation to the angle of shots and mise-en-scene, for example, when a pencil is placed on a table it will have a meaning as to why it is

there. Nothing is accidental.

Life on Mars task

Before our preliminary task, we completed a small activity which was to copy a scene from a TV series 'life of mars‘. This gave us experience of using the camera and how the scenes need to be set. This helped me with my preliminary task as I learnt about the timing, the value and meaning of the scenes. We copied each scene and wrote how long each shot needed to be and then took out a camera from our media department and found a great place to film it. From doing this task, I learnt how to use the cameras and although it was a short task I realised how hard it is to try and film the exact same shots. I enjoyed doing this as it gave me incite of what will be included in my finished opening scene.

Preliminary taskAfter having lessons learning about what we needed to include from the preliminary task. We made a note of what shots we wanted to include and made sure that we knew exactly what to add in, for example, for the actors to speak at the correct time just like the story board. Writing down the shots allowed me to follow a guide so I didn’t go off task but also I had the freedom to change if I needed too. After we finished filming our shots, we put it into final cut express and edited the clips. My actors were talking in my clip so I didn’t feel that I needed to add any music. Although this was a small task, I felt like I could of improved on it. If I was to re do this task, I would want to show my skills more efficiently by including more camera angles, better story board and including different lighting. In this task I learnt about the 180 degree rule, match on match action and how to successfully use shot reverse shot. I never knew film directors included these rules in their films which was really interesting to find out about.

StoryboardBefore completing my film opening, we created a still image story board which incorporated shots of all our scenes that we wanted to include. We also added our titles into this scene. I learnt how many different shots you needed to use in a two minute scene, thus needing to use many varieties to interest and attract my audience. This task helped me organize my film as I could play around with the order and change the way scenes appear. I gained experience of using Final Cut Express and learnt how to add in titles which would help me reduce the time of editing my opening scene. I also got to experiment with the titles as I changed the order a few times. I felt like this task helped us very much as it allowed us to plan the exact shots and the time for the film opening. This task helped us to use Final Cut as we learnt exactly how to complete our film, doing this prepared us for the film opening and I believe without it I wouldn't of been able to complete the film editing.

EditingBefore the preliminary task I had basic knowledge of using Final Cut Pro. From the beginning of ‘Life on Mars’ to the final film I created, I had grown from knowing basic skills of editing to becoming an accomplished editor. Each task throughout the year has helped me perfect my own editing skills, for example, how to add effects to my film, adding titles and changing the opacity of music. From my experience as a director, I have learnt many skills that I would be able to transfer to making another film.

Film Opening The first thing I learnt when researching and learning about film openings was the importance of intriguing the audience in the first few minutes. I learnt that you must include an important character so the audience is able to relate, you must establish the scene and include a important moment which will set the whole films genre and story line. These things are so vital as it is what makes the audience remain watching. I learnt the importance of including the correct titles and the order they appear in. I found this task very hard as I changed my order many times. When I researched titles, there was many different orders that I could have chosen from, which made me very confused but after getting feedback from my teacher he guided me in the right direction.

I made sure I showed what genre my film was which is key to a great opening. To conduct this, I included music which was eerie but didn't give too much away. I used dark lighting in my house scenes which showed a thrilling effect. Although, it was a opening scene I wanted to make sure I left it on a cliff hanger. This would leave suspicion of what could happen next, thus keeping the audience excited about the storyline and ending to the film. The thing I felt that I lacked in this task was the character profile, I didn't want to give too much away about the character but this meant that I lacked information on the social groups and audiences that I needed to address. I learnt about how much work goes into each minute of a film and how hard it must be to create a whole entire film!

I enjoyed making a film opening as it tested my skills of many tasks I wasn’t so sure on before and I gained knowledge and information about film making which I am extremely interested in.