Evaluation - Question 7

From looking at the preliminary task we have used a number of different skills we learnt during the task and applied them to the film opening production. The preliminary task was the first time I ever worked in a group for a production, as before I had worked solo. By being put in a group for the preliminary task it allowed me to rely on others and get a feel for working in a group as I planned to work with someone else for the film opening. When we created the preliminary task we were also told to use Hollywood style editing, this is something we hadn’t done before, this allowed us to create a more professional looking film opening in contrast to our GCSE work. The preliminary task also told us we could have a maximum of 30 seconds, ensuring we didn’t overrun this is something we would have to take on board for the final production as we had a set time of 2 minutes. Our final production over ran 2 minutes, which meant we had to cut some of the shots we believed and our target audience believed didn’t work as well as the others. The variety of shots was also something we had taken into consideration from doing the preliminary task, as we had to include at least 10 different shots during the preliminary task, this made our final product more professional looking and gave it visual excitement.

In my opinion the most important thing Ellie and I have learnt in the period between the Preliminary Exercise and the first cut of our film opening is the concept of filming for a symbolic and representational meaning, so that every shot has a deeper meaning behind it. The Preliminary task was simply an exercise designed to test our ability to use a camera, and edit in a Hollywood style to create a more professional looking product. Yet in order to achieve a more meaningful reflection from our target audience, we had to learn how to apply our practical skills to take and edit more artistic shots that would portray symbolic and representational aspects of Alisha’s character and the story in which Alisha’s character will undergo throughout the film.