Coursework Evaluation: Q7

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

I found it extremely helpful to keep referring to the preliminary task which we did at the beginning of the course to see how far my skills had come. This task involved me and two of my classmates coming up with a short film including the 180◦ rule, over the shoulder shots and other techniques that I went on to use in my final product. This enabled me to become familiar with the equipment and skills I would need in future, particularly the need for continuity in filming.

If I were to begin filming my preliminary task again, I would be sure to use a wider variation of camera angles, and perhaps be a little more daring with the transitions when editing. I feel that this is also an issue in my final product as I do not think I have shown my full abilities. If I had used different camera angles, shots, and editing techniques I feel I would have shown my full potential. 

I found it somewhat astonishing to see how much my camera skills had improved. During the process of producing the preliminary task, I remember making one vital mistake; I didn’t record any of it. Since then, I have become much more familiar with the technical equipment and found the filming of my second artefact went almost perfectly. 
It was not just my camera skills that had improved; my editing ability had also progressed. When editing the preliminary task, my group and I used simple transitions at the beginning and end of the film. We did not use any more complex transitions, only hard cuts from one shot to another. It was only during the editing process of my second artefact that I began to experiment with all of the special effects available to me. Before this, I was not aware of how to do things such as inserting sound clips, importing music and editing text. I feel this has been of great use to me to improve further, should I choose to make another film in the future.