LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FINAL PRODUCT?
Since I made my preliminary task I have progressed and improved in every aspect of the filmmaking process and I feel this mainly came from practice and experience. For my preliminary task I completed a very short film that consisted of somebody walking into a room and speaking to someone else, it displayed the use of a match-on-action, shot-reverse-shot and the 180° rule. As a practice my class also made a film called 'The Package' on the school grounds which was about the delivery of a package. This project helped me to understand how so use the camera and then helped me get started on Final Cut Pro X, it was extremely helpful for me to fully understand these aspects before I went out and filmed my thriller opening as it meant that on location I could be much more efficient with the technology I was using.
The fact that I chose to make my thriller opening on my own rather than in a group meant I was heavily involved in every aspect of the process, rather than focusing more on a certain aspect. In the planning process I learnt how to create a full storyboard, put together a shot list and structure my film in term of location, characters and actors so that my film could become what I had envisioned it would be. When I was filming I found that it was extremely helpful to have the resources that I had planned previously to hand as it gave a structure to my filming and meant that I didn't miss any essential parts. This was very important for me since I ended up filming in Yorkshire which meant that it would have been very difficult for me to go back a re-shoot anything, my planning helped provide a certain guarantee that I would have enough footage to make the film.
The next stage was the filming. Looking back at my finished title sequence, one of the aspects that I feel I have improved in most in the camera work. I tried to use a variety of different camera angles, movements and positions to make the film more interesting and engaging. This included the use of a whip-pan shot, tracking shots and closed frames to give my film the style that I had intended. My film aimed to be a pastiche of a classic film noir and therefore the style of my filming was important to show the style that is associated with film noir. For example I aimed to use mainly closed frames and smooth camera movements, however there were exceptions to this for example I used a handheld tracking shot as a point of view of the girl walking around the tree. Because I planned to film in a certain style this affected my choice of shots and camera movements, this was challenging as it gave me less freedom in terms of which shots I could use, however it was also a benefit as it meant I had a theme and pattern to follow and base my filming around.
Sound was a key element in my film which was made harder by the fact that I chose to include dialogue. I found that the sound was one of the hardest parts, especially of the filming process because I was recording sound outside which meant dealing with background noise. In the end I had to re-record parts of my dialogue because they were not clear enough, this taught me that I should have paid more attention to the diagetic sound during the filming process as this could have saved me quite a lot of time afterwards. Finding non-diagetic sound to use in my film was not something that I did in my preliminary task, and therefore was fairly new to me when I began to search for my thriller opening. It was difficult to find two tracks that were perfectly suited to each sequence in my opening, however once I came across the site audionetwork.com I quickly managed to find the right tracks. While trying to find the right track I tested many different tracks with my opening, I learnt from this process that the soundtrack was very important as different tracks could completely change the style and feel of my film.
An area that I have also progressed in since my preliminary task is the use of Final Cut Pro X. When I made my preliminary task all that I did was cut clips and piece them together, whereas for my final film I used transitions, storylines, auditions and more. I played around with the saturation to make my film black and white, and adjusted sound by using hum removal. I also added title over the top of my film to turn it into a title sequence, in doing this I thought carefully about the composition of each frame and where therefore titles would naturally fit.
Overall I really feel as if I have progressed in all areas of the filmmaking process, some areas more than others, however still a sufficient amount in each area that I have been able to make a title sequence that I am happy with and that I feel is far more technically advanced than my preliminary task.
