Q7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

For the preliminary, I worked with Josh and Yssy to create the 1 minute video posted below.

In our preliminary task, we were asked to make a 1 minute continuity sequence where a characters walks into a room towards another character whom they exchange dialogue with. This helped us with our film opening as it gave us the basic knowledge of how to film and edit a sequence so it made sense, by following the rules of continuity.

Pre-production:

During the pre-production of my preliminary, we had not done much planning of the sequence, since it was a simple and straight-forward task. However for our full product, we had to create a storyboard for the animatic then we used the animatic to create a more visual shootboard and storyboard that we can use for our main shoot. This proved very helpful when filming the sequence, and when directing, i was able to use the storyboard and to make sure that we had a good continuity throughout the shots. The shootboard proved useful by putting together the shots that needed continuity, ensuring that we would shoot with continuity throughout the shots.

Pulled From The Rough's storyboard

Pulled From The Rough's shoot-board

Page 1 of pitch

Page 2 of pitch

So that we knew exactly what we were filming, we had to plan and research a lot before the actual test shoots. We then had to pitch our ideas to the teachers. For that I had to know every aspect of the film's idea. I learnt that when planning a film, you did not only have to know how to shoot it but also to use research to help you understand it more in detail.

After making a pitch, we were given feedback on our ideas and we had to make changes to it. Then we made use the feedback to create our treatment, which we presented to get more feedback on whether she need to change anything or not. On the treatment we wrote out our storyboard described briefly for the teachers to be able to visualise how the film opening would look like.

Treatmet page 1

Treatment page 2

The problem we had for the prelim was that we didn't do the blocking of the location we were going to film in. Therefore when we came to filming it, we realised that we had limited amount of space, which limited our creativity with the camera. So to prevent that from happening again, we made a floor plan of the location we were planning on filming in as well as picture of the room.

Floor plan of the bedroom

Location reccie photos

Production:

In our prelim, we used a lot of match-on-action, and I was able to use this in our film opening. As shown in the gifs below. For these math-on-action shots, we had to note down how the actors did the action. For example, the gif of Alex throwing the clothes, we had to make sure he was using the same hand when filming the shot from different angles. This taught me the importance of note-taking while filming, ensuring the shots flow well with continuity.

Opening of door from prelim

Alex throws clothes

Jess slams clock

For the prelim, we did not realise that we had a close in the background, so while we were filming, the clock was keep ticking and it would be a different time in each shot. So for the film opening, we had to remember where everything was placed to have a good continuity. To remember, we took pictures of things to make sure we knew how to put it back in the way if something was to mess up.

Post-Production:

For the prelim, we did not do as much editing as we did for the film opening. This is due to the fact that we had to grade the shots to make it look visually nicer for the audience. 

However we were able to use techniques we learnt from the prelim for the film opening sequence edit. For example, we were able to use the audio levels to make sure the audio sound is the same throughout each shot that is necessary.

To make sure that everyone in our group was able to edit either by themselves of with another group member, we made a edit schedule.By working on the edit separately, we were all able to use our own knowledge of editing to use, but we also put times where we worked together as a group to allow time for discussion as well.

Edit schedule

In hindsight:

In hindsight, I would have chosen a location that did not reflect the light so much, since it gave us a lot of trouble when grading the shots. The room was purple and it reflected the light, making some of the white objects look pinky. 

However overall, I think our final piece was quite a success, considering it was our first time using softwares like after effects. To be able to make a two minute and a half film opening sequence that had a fairly good feedback, from making a one minute continuity sequence, I think that I have learnt a lot about film-making. As a prosumer, i would love to make more shorts like this using the knowledge that i have gained from this project.