In our preliminary task, we learned the importance of planning, as thorough planning allowed us to include a variety of shots and improve the quality and professionalism of our work. We also improved on avoiding mistakes during filming and ensuring proper timing of shots. For our main task, we used a more experienced actress and further developed the setting to make it more relatable. Overall, we learned from our mistakes and were able to create a higher quality final piece through more planning and attention to detail.
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Learning from mistakes
1. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in
the progression from it to the full product?
The first and most important aspect I think we have learnt from our preliminary task was the
importance of planning. For our main task we made sure we had everything planned down to the
last detail and stuck to the plan we had created on our story board before going ahead with filming.
Doing this allowed everyone involved in the filming to know exactly what was happening and when,
ensuring nothing vital was missed out. This resulted in our final piece including a wider variety of
shots such as the following;match on action, shot reverse shot, an establishing shot, panning, close
ups using zoom, over the shoulder shot, high and low angles. By including a wider variety of shots we
have proved we know how to use the filming equipment adequately and with good skill, aswell as
vastly increasing the quality and professionalism of our work.
High angle establishing shot. A close up using zoom.
The camera panning the actress’
movement and the use of match on
action showing her passing through
the door.
A low angle shot.
Shot reverse shot.
2. In our preliminary task we made major errors that significantly degraded the quality of our piece.
These were things like the boom falling into shot and actors having to squeeze past the camera to
move out of the shot. In our main task we ensured none of these mistakes were to be repeated and
there was only one minor error similar to this that may decrease the quality of our work. This was
the shaking of the camera at the beginning due to the camera being zoomed in so much despite
using a tripod. An example where we had to specifically ensure we made no errors at all was the
over the shoulder shot of our main character getting ready in the mirror. Whilst filming this shot we
had to make sure we only got the actress in the mirror and none of the filming cast or equipment.
We did this by moving the camera to the left and putting it on a slight angle.
Another area we have improved on due to our detailed planning is timing. In our preliminary task we
had multiple issues with the timing of our filming. When it came to our main task we ensured all
actors were available, the location was accessible, and the filming equipment was obtainable for a
specific date. We also allocated a whole day; with other possible dates if needed, for filming rather
than just an hour we allowed for the filming of our preliminary task. This released the pressure of
having enough time to film, allowing us to perform several attempts at filming specific shots to
ensure we got them exactly how they were intended to be rather than just rushing them and being
left with a poor quality piece of footage to work with in the editing process.
Furthermore, the actress we used in our main task for the main character was much more willing to
participate and was a lot more professional in comparison to the actors we used in our preliminary
task. By this I mean she was willing to retake shot after shot after shot if they did not go exactly how
we wanted them to and she did not laugh whilst she was acting. By having a better actress the
overall piece was improved.
One positive thing from our preliminary task we learned and carried on through to our main taskwas
the accuracy of mis-en-scene. The mis-en-scene of our preliminary task was a very convincing
masculine environment which fit well with the story line. The asset of a convincing and accurate mis-
en-scene was relayed on to our main task and developed further by in cooperating specific features
of a morning routine such as the bed, the clock, closed curtains and a shower. I feel by developing
A screen shot of the boom falling into shot in
our preliminary piece.
A screen shot showing an over the shoulder shot
of our actress getting ready in the mirror
without any filming cast or equipment falling
into shot.
3. this further we made our piece more interesting and relatable to our target audience because the
features were everyday objects that you would expect to see in a morning environment.
Similar to our preliminary task we inserted a blank
title before and after the filming material as we
have learned these are the conventions of filming.
We also used the same font throughout keeping a
consistent theme. In spite of following the
conventions of title scenes we decided to fit the
text into the setting of the scene, change the colour
of the titles, add more titles to the piece and
animate the titles rather than just having three still,
blank, title scenes. We did this to make our piece
more intricate and interesting but also to relay to the audience the quirkiness of the main character,
so by making our titles different we are suggesting she too is different.
A screen shot showing a developed mis-en-
scene using everyday objects whilst in-
cooperating the text into these objects.
A screen shot showing the titles used in our
preliminary task.