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

The most important thing I have learnt is that when filming anything, always take lots of shots and vary the angles and positioning the camera to capture this shot.  In our preliminary task, we did not take many repeated shots, but it was only a short piece of footage, so we didn't necessarily need many shots.  However, when we started filming our film opening, we felt that we took enough shots and would not need anymore.  When we came to edit the footage, some of the shots were shaky or too repetitive and we actually did not have enough to work with to create a 3 minute long production, so we had to film more shots of footsteps.  The second time round, we learnt from our mistakes and took lots of shots from different angles.  This made editing the footage more enjoyable and easier as there were varied angles, allowing us to develop the opening's plot.

I have also learnt of the importance of mise-en-scene.  One of the criticism of our preliminary task was that Alex's face was obscured when I took off my hat, so we made particularly sure that none of the characters were obstructed in our main production.  Setting our film in the 1930s, we also had to learn to be careful not to include anything that may make it obvious we are in the 21st century.  We did this by not including things like cars or modern technology and keeping background simplistic (e.g. against brick work or a plain wall).

Looking back on our preliminary exercise, the dialogue was nothing special and it was clear it was unpracticed in parts.  Therefore, when it came to dialogue, we took lots of shots of us saying the lines as well as re-recording the voices so we could adjust the dialogue if it sounded unprofessional.

An integral part to producing any form of media is the pre-production and planning.  I have found that our storyboard has been most crucial in allowing the production process to flow easier.  In the preliminary task, we stuck to our storyboard and knew what we were aiming for.  In our main project, although we created a storyboard, we tended to vary from it and digressed in different directions.  However, we found this created more hassle and hindered the production process so decided to look back to our inital idea and stick as closely to it as possible.

Finally, the most important skill I have learnt in this process is working as a group.  During the preliminary exercise, it was just me and Shaun and we just split the tasks that needed to be done and get on with them independently.  When it came to the main production, Chelsea and George joined our group so we had to share the workload.  This was better as it meant less work for everyone and relieved the pressure of having people dependent on each other to get certain things done.