7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Brief for the Preliminary Task:

Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

 Planning Process

• Brainstormed Initial Ideas
• Decided on a genre to showcase our skills effectively - Thriller
• Did Location Reccies and made a final decision - Media Block
• Created a Storyboard followed by a Shot List - Included the necessary continuity techniques 
• Rehearsal 
• Shot the Prelim
• Edited the footage to a final short clip
• Decided on a title for the continuity clip - Withheld

What We Did Successfully

- Conveyed a good sense of genre in a short amount of time

- Completed all the continuity requirements well

- Rehearsed before hand, so everything was carried out correctly

What We Learnt

The preliminary task enabled us to get a feel for the techonolgies we had to then use for our opening sequence. We shot using Canon DV30s and tripods, and had to use pag-lights as our shots were initially too dark. We then cut and sequenced our clips using Adobe Premiere Pro.

We learnt about what needed to be taken into account before and during the shoot. During the preliminary task, we had to share a location with another group causing complications we had to work around. This put further pressure on the time constraint we also had, having only one hour to shoot. We only had a few weekends to shoot our sequence, and could only film in daylight, so this had to be taken into account too.


The task allowed us to experience the planning stage, which we then replicated for our film opening.

• Storyboard and Shot List
• Props and Costume List
• Floor Plans of Lauren's Bedroom and Scarlett's bedroom
• Location Plan

By the end of the task, we understood how to overcome problems when shooting, for example using the pag-light when realising the shots were dark. We also noticed the importance of continuity for realism in a film clip, so we were then able to ensure this was perfect for our real sequence.

What Could've Gone Better!

Problem in Prelim	Corrected for Opening Sequence?
More varied shots needed	Yes
More creative shots to convey genre	After audience feedback, I think we could’ve gone further with split-screening and title effects
Unusable shots with tripod left in	We often had shots with shoulders slightly in the sides, but this was easily cropped when editing
Shots too dark – pag light needed	We didn’t take lighting into account and shots were also too dark, lights were needed on a reshoot. The ‘drawer’ shot was particularly impacted by this.
Appeal not taken into account	Could have furthered out audience appeal towards males,there isn't anything particularly directed towards them.
Didn’t grade or learn the techniques	Found it difficult to grade many locations and lighting settings.
Lack of time – Unable to reshoot	Lack of time for multiple reshoots, but managed to get everything done successfully.

Overall, the prelim was the perfect preparation for the real film opening task as we gained a better understanding of what we were going to aim to achieve. Even though there were still problems and complications, we avoided the majority as they had been foreseen using our knowledge from the prelim.