1. •Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? (Think about how the performing, shooting and editing of your preliminary task lead to your ability to plan, shoot and edit your film production. Explain what you’ve learned about working constructively in a group with regard to planning, the shoot, identifying an appropriate sound track and title, and the edit. Explain your individual contributions/ideas and responsibilities. <br />Explain how you’ve coped with audience feedback , is it better or worse than expected; has it offended you; have the audience understood your intentions and been able to read your film? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your production? Explain what the most important thing you’ve learned about film making that you didn’t know?)<br />7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? <br />Our preliminary task was on a fairly small scale; we could choose any simple storyline we wanted and therefore finding locations and props, etc wasn’t an issue as our preliminary task was just a tryout. Beginning with planning, for our preliminary task we decided as a group on a storyline and then created a rough storyboard of the camera shots to be included. That was about all the planning we did for our preliminary task, but of course for our thriller production we needed to go into much more detail. The main thing we carried over from our preliminary task planning to our thriller planning was group discussion; after a lesson or so we assigned different parts of the planning to different members of the group, each member double checked with the group their ideas for their section before making the decision final. Luckily there weren’t too many disagreements regarding our thriller planning, and so we managed to cover all areas together with our individual contributions and group discussion. Unfortunately, in reference to the storyboard, when we filmed our preliminary task one of group members was absent with the planning sheet so we had to work from our memory. When we shot our thriller opening, we also forgot the storyboard this time round and once again had to work from memory. We should have learnt from our mistake in our preliminary task. However we did have to go for a second film shoot for our thriller as we didn’t think we had sufficient footage to work with when we began editing. Therefore we went out to finish filming, and this time we brought the storyboard and managed to shoot all the footage we needed to create our sequence.<br />While shooting our preliminary task, we all took turns with working with the camera and equipment so we could all get used to it for when we took on our coursework task. When it came filming our thriller, two of our group members needed to be acting in the actual film leaving us remaining two to man the camera. As was made clear, Jordan had a smoother hand when it came to panning shots and also was simply better at using the camera than I was. I still helped with setting up the camera to make sure it was in accordance with the storyboard, so although I couldn’t help too much with the actual shoot I still had a role. So once again, as in the planning, when we shot our film we all adopted individual roles in order to work as a group.<br />When we edited our preliminary task we used iMovie; a much simpler video editing programme found on Macs in comparison with professional video editing software. We all sat around the computer and agreed what the titles would be, what the soundtrack would be and all other aspects of editing; it was all done on a small scale using the simple default programmes found on the iMacs. When it came to our thriller, our group was one of the few to primarily import our film on to Final Cut Express and begin editing using this complicated software to get used to it. Most of the other groups formed a rough cut on iMovie first as they were used to it from their preliminary task and then moved it over into Final Cut. As we’d learned from our preliminaries, it is handy just to jump in and use software in order to get used to it and be able to use it at its full potential. As similar to our preliminary task, we all contributed to editing by discussing as we went – although some of us were better at using the software than others. We were only happy with leaving the piece of editing we’d just done if everybody in the group was satisfied with it.<br />I’ve learnt that working in a group is very important, and that each member has to put in an equal amount of effort as the others in order to produce a final product. As aforementioned, we achieved this by assigning individual roles in the planning, filming as well as editing. As is apparent from what is posted on our blogs, you can see which parts were assigned to who when we planned. Myself, I was in charge of coming up with the costumes/props, character backgrounds as well as the casting information. All the other parts that the rest of the group was in charge of, I commented on to show how we discussed these parts as we went through them. In the early stages of planning, before clear roles were assigned to each other we all monitored what each other were doing closely. For example, we all expressed our opinion on the storyboard as it began to be made and we all also contributed to finding an appropriate soundtrack and other sound effects for our film primarily. Being able to work individually in order to work as a group proved an effective method to get our work done.<br />Becky acted in the thriller and was in charge of the storyboard and explanation as a result of the original plan for the opening plot being hers. She also created our shooting schedule and prop list. Jos also acted in the thriller and came up with a synopsis for the rest of the film (beyond the opening), he also posted on location. Jordan worked on creating the entire soundtrack and also manned the camera in most of the filming. We all contributed to explaining our lack of script and original brainstormed ideas as well as the editing.<br />From the screening of our rough edit, we found out that most of the audience members understood what was going on in the film; which was good as we wanted a certain degree of clarity. However, one audience member thought that there were numerous characters in gas masks following the POV shot where it looks like Becky (The Lady in the Gas Mask) is in various places. Therefore we knew that our film also had a confusing aspect, which we also wanted as it is a psychological thriller with a heavy basis on manifestation of hallucination. We didn’t receive too much serious constructive criticism, which was nice but also slightly unhelpful. However, at that point we already had ideas ourselves what improvements we wanted to make for our final thriller edit.<br />I would say a strength of our production is the ability to let the audience roughly know what is going on but at the same time confusing them; like I’ve said we wanted a certain degree of clarity so the audience knows what is going on but we also want them to raise questions so they are inclined to watch the rest of the film that unfolds the background of this initial violent confrontation. I think we used the camera and editing well to create distinction between current events and flashbacks in the film. However, I think some parts of the filming we could have improved on; when we pan up the body of Jos (Rhys) the camera is fairly shaky as we had to hold the camera close the ground as well as move it- doing this smoothly was very difficult without a dolly. It was also difficult to make alterations in editing once we had synced the soundtrack perfectly with the video, making it difficult to add in the title.<br />The most important things I learned about film making is that everybody needs to make an effort, and that remembering the storyboard is a very good thing! Also, that computer problems make editing very, very difficult and time consuming at times. If I were to do this project again, I would make sure we were using a trustworthy computer and would also make sure we remembered the storyboard and checked the weather forecast for when we planned to film.<br />