Preliminary Task

This is the piece of film that has been made to practice my skills in pre-production, production and post-production. I had the same editing task as my test edit on a previous posts but as opposed to being given pieces of footage, the group I was in had to plan the film and film all the clips to add into the film. To do this we had the storyboard planning and a location planning to do which are on previous posts too as well as the casting where we had to consider and pick the actors that will star in the film. The product that we made is blow and then underneath that are some questions and answers about the process and experience of making the film.



What did you learn from the experience of filming the footage required for your preliminary task? What went well and what could have been done better?

During the preliminary task, I have learnt many things that I can take forward into other tasks with in my Media Studies course. In the production stage, I learnt how to film a basic piece of footage using the iPad, and also how to get the best out of an iPad camera. I have learnt how to control the light when filming by positioning the camera differently. One part of the production process that went well was the pieces of footage that we got, the acting was good within the piece.This was obviously an important thing to us but then we had some faults like the set up of the camera, we had a mix of landscape and portrait. Other things that I have learnt during my preliminary task is the post-production techniques - for example I have learnt how to add things to my film, not just take parts away from the clips. Adding things like music and transitions are very basic and easy to do but only when you have learnt to do it, and I learnt this by actually doing it with my preliminary task.

What is the difference between pre-production, production and post-production?

Pre-production:
This is the beginning stage of all film making. It is the original plans that have been put in place to start the image of the proposed film. Our planning to this film was the original research into movie editing, camera shots and movements and how to use the iPads. In further films we wont need these but for this project it was essential. In other films, like this one too, we will need to research the genre on which the film will be based. Other planning will then be the storyboard, the location planning and casting.

Production:
This is the filming of the clips needed to produce your piece. It is literally what it says on the tin and is just filming all the film either in order or in a random order using all the camera shots that you think you may use based on your storyboard. This is the shortest part of the three processes and seems the most simple but can have bad consequences if there is a mistake, i.e. having to re-film a section or all of the film depending on your circumstances and resources available. 

Post-production:
This is the end section of making a film. It is the final chance that you have to make your film the best it can be, so you can cut out clips that you don't want or don't necessarily need and you can add extras to improve the over-all finish of the film. This is probably the most important part of the film making production stages as it is the last chance you have, before publishing the piece, to make sure all the requirements have been met like having a high level of continuity and match on action; without a high quality post-production process the film may fail!

How easy did you find editing with iMovie? Explain at least 4 different skills or techniques that you learnt during this process.

Now that I have learnt how to use iMovie in my test edit and the preliminary task I find it very easy to edit things into a film that makes sense. The sort of things I have learnt in this task are minimal but essential for a film that makes sense with match on action. This includes:

• Transitions between frames
• Incorporating music and sound effects
• Reducing or removing sound or volume
• Clipping footage
• Adding text or titles to the film piece

This list is just a selection of the techniques learnt during the preliminary task, they are the main things that I will need to make a successful film as well as good content. They will always be needed to make sure that the audience has an understanding of the mood/tone (music), has a clear understanding of where a character has moved too (transitions) or just to give a brief preview of the genre (opening credits and music combined).

What is continuity edition?

Continuity editing is all about getting a film that moves on swiftly which will involve editing it to have match on match action. This means that when two clips are put together there should be no sharp changes in camera positions when the camera angle is the same. Continuity also involves having one movement of a character, so for example if you wanted to change the camera shot or angle when a character is walking down a corridor, the end point of the first clip and the start of another should match so that the character is at the same point in the switch. Without this sort of continuity, the film will be 'jumpy' and will look incredibly unprofessional.

What do the following terms mean; a) match on action, and b) shot / reverse shot?

a) Match on action is a media term that is used to describe a part of the continuity of a film. The term itself means that a section of footage must fit together like two jigsaw pieces; perfectly or not at all. The idea is that the end of one clip must correspond with the start of the next otherwise it will look like the character had jumped ahead of the film or has jumped behind. Match on match action is probably the biggest part of the post-production process.

b) Shot/reverse shot is an important type of camera angle within the media, especially in our preliminary task. The knock knock joke means that there is frequent changes in dialogue in the film so the camera must move from on character to another instantly. This is called a shot/reverse shot which moves the camera to another character without showing any movement of the camera; it is an instant move to a camera shot from one position to another.

Analyse your preliminary task as a piece of continuity editing. What are the strengths and what are its weaknesses?

I think that in the preliminary task, we did an alright job in the three stages of production, (pre-production, production and post-production) but it was not extra-ordinary or above and beyond. I think that our main strength was the post-production process when we got to editing the footage that we had collected. The reason for this I think is because we had all the material in front of us and we could visually see exactly what we needed to add or change to make the film better. This differs from the earlier process

as we had to plan with no real aid other than what content we needed to have in it, so we had to almost start from scratch and build a frame for the piece. After this we had the production section, where we had the framework of pre-production when we did this we could actually see what faults we had and we had to think there and then of what needed to be done to correct this. In this process was where we had our biggest faults! Unfortunately we had forgotten about rule number one which is to film in landscape and this meant we had a mix of portrait and landscape shots - this gives an unprofessional feel to the film. The content within the film was also a big strength within the film, although this is not due to us as a team directly as we had actors, it shows our capability of casting the correct characters. The only criticism I have off the content is that it's quite plain and when I've compare it to other groups' I would say they have more unusual and possibly more enticing films because of their 'wacky' nature.

This is an example of what the post-production can do, we
have added a title screen to show the audience what the film
is, and on this section we have also added music to add
tone to the beginning of the film.

This was a section where we used the landscape camera on
the iPad, this was what we were meant to do when filming,
but it didn't all work like this; see image below.

This is the shot that we got terribly wrong when we filmed
it is portrait, this then gave the film a lack of continuity
because it has a lack of consistency.