Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you
feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since
my preliminary task, I have progressed my understanding of equipment and
software, as well as education on all aspects of media products.
The main skill developed was the planning, learnt from the preliminary task, as I was comfortable with what I needed and everything that had to be done in preparation for shooting and editing. The storyboard helped us picture our exact shots, which is something we had not done for our preliminary task, and so it was made a lot easier because of this. I learnt small amounts about the use of sound and filming during the first tasks, though my skills developed hugely during the actual product.
I
also developed my software skills, having never used final cut pro or motion,
and I learnt how to edit footage and music, as well as create titles and idents
in motion and Photoshop. Eliza and I also learnt how to edit to create suspense,
and how to contrast this, playing around with variations of our rough cut to
find the perfect edit. As I had used Photoshop before, I found it easy to
create the titles and indent ideas, but the editing was where I learnt most,
being able to manipulate the footage to create the overall tone of the opening.
Though I had used Final Cut Pro in the preliminary task, I was unable to such sophisticated
things, as I have done in our film opening. I learnt a lot about these programs
just by using them and learning little tips and tricks.
I
learnt a lot about using equipment while out shooting. Eliza and I had some
difficulties with filming, and so this is probably the area I have learnt most.
On our recce shoot we had not checked that the equipment was charged to full
power, as well as not being able to find the media card (which we realised we
had later). I learnt from our mistakes like this, which made our next shoot run
a lot smoother. As well as filming, I learnt a lot about sound, using the
equipment and taking ambient sounds to overlay onto your footage. This is
something I would not have known otherwise, had I not been told and tried it
for myself. We used a range of skills, figuring out how to get around
difficulties such as a slanted surface to put the tripod on, and dealing with
people and locations. It took us several shoots to complete out footage, but by
the ends I was more experienced than our initial recce shoot.
Overall,
The preliminary tasks were extremely useful, as they allowed me to improve and
develop camera skills and use editing software that I had never used before. I
learnt how to use the equipment, including sound and camera, and then how to
transfer these skills onto the computers to develop our product further. I also
learnt that planning the shoot using a shot list, and a storyboard was an
essential part of the process, allowing for exact details of our shoot to be
included so that we knew exactly what we needed to do. I learnt a lot about
equipment, software and planning during this process and since the preliminary
task.
