Task 7 What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product

Planning and preparation

When we did our preliminary task, there was no real planning but only simple storyboarding to draw an idea of the shots. As we were given a simple set with numbers of simple shots such as middle shot, close up, we did not really need to organize everything that we have done for the main task.

For the main task, we spent 3 hours on drawing the storyboards, including highlighting. We were much more recognized of the importance of the storyboards as it enhances our film ideas. Therefore it concludes that the planning of the main task such as storyboarding was much more complex and detailed.

Also, we did not need to worry about the location of the film when we did our preliminary task, it was chosen already and set up in the studio, as we went along to shoot during the lesson, we even did not realize what should be considered for the location, whereas in the main task, we were struggling about the location whether in Cornhill House or the main building.

Furthermore, we needed to sort out our props and costumes, we went to the theatre to ask for a bottle of blood, but in the prelim basic task, we did hardly anything for props and costumes, the only aspect that we were looking for was the actor and the actress.

Film-making skills

This is a over shoulder shot of the actress which we did not have in the prelim basic task.. In order to get this shot, the camera had to follow her footsteps horizontally and moving steadily to make this look realistic. It was really difficult not to move at all, so we took a long time on this. Also, this is our opening scene which her identity has not revealed yet.

This is the wide shot of the entire location. From the picture, you can only see 3 brick walls, one door, one window and one light. This set is our only location requirement. This was a typical wide shot of the whole scene which simply illustrates the relationships between these three people. Also, this is telling a story with dialogue, but in the main task, we preferred to use visual thing to tell the story.

Use of camera

In terms of use of camera, we had many improvements in the prelim basic task; we had more angles of shot such as crane shot. In order to do that, we used the ladder in front of the set; put the camera on the top and to achieve this. However, in the main task, we needed much more shots in terms of cutting and editing, so we basically used every useful source in the location to highlight the location. It is highly focused on the location but not the characters in the main task instead of having every single shot with people talking or acting.

For example, we tried to highlight the location that was happened in bathroom; the jock jacket on the hanger reveals his identity which we did for telling the audience who he is. Overall, the characters are important as well but not as very important as in the prelim basic task because we did not have lots of idea on the simple set in the studio.

Sound development

We only had dialogue in the prelim basic task, because they were telling the story in that way, yet the main task was telling the story without any word or phrase. We had some sound effects such as boom to highlight the stabbing shot and some crescendo sound to make the atmosphere tense and horrified. In the prelim main task, we only recorded the ambient sound, there were no other sound that we could record and make in terms of improving the film. When we finished editing the shots, we started fitting in some sound effects into the proper shots for development. We had hundreds of example in the Macbook and we spent some time on choosing a suitable sound, especially the sound of boom which could really impress the audience.

After effects

In Final Cut, we used to cut the bottom bit of the shower scene, as we can see the boy’s underwear which will lead to a fake and unrealistic film. We used the Final Cut Pro and cut the bottom line. In the prelim basic task, we did not do things like this because we were not having any situation that a man has to be in shower but pretend to be naked. The sreengrab below shows the male character is in shower without seeing anything at the bottom that is because we cut the edge of the bottom in order to hide his underwear