My preliminary task, I found took a lot less time to plan, than our full product. For me it was more a practice, to get us prepared for our full product and help us learn from our mistakes. Anything that we got wrong or found difficult in our preliminary task, meant when we came to our full product we would not make the same mistakes. The planning for our preliminary task too roughly about two weeks, where as the planning for our full product took about, five weeks. In our preliminary task, the script was handed to us, we did not have to write it up, or draw up the storyboard. We simply just had to find to drama students, who had some spare time to act for us. The sequence was about two minutes long, so they would not have lost much time in helping us with the task, unlike the filming for our full product which took a whole day. As there was not set look that either of the characters had to have in the preliminary task, it meant that we could chose anybody who could act. Where as in our full product, we had to ensure the actors fitted the look that we wanted our characters to have, that they were decent actors and were able to miss a whole day in order to film. Choosing our actors was not as simple, as we had to hire and external actor in order for one of our protagonists to fit the part exactly. This took up time in our planning as we had to go through numerous profiles, to find the correct look. We also had to discuss between us whether we wanted to split the fee between the group, and whether it would be worth it. In our full product many more serious decisions were to be made in order to create the best product we could, unlike in the preliminary task where it was not really necessary. In the preliminary task, we just used one of the class rooms, as there was not a set scene stated. Where as for our full product we had to decided where we would have our interrogation room, how big it would be, how it would exactly look and whether it was possible to do, as we chose to use the studio we had to make sure that It was free and not booked up. We had to plan all the props we needed and a plan of the interrogation room, which obviously took up some time. We realised we would not be able to build it ourselves so we had to ask two professionals to build the structured set for us. In doing this, they were only able to set up the structure the night before filming, meaning we were unable to see it until the day, which gave us risk because if it was not right we would just have to work with it and adapt, in order to continue the shoot day as planned. By the time we reached our shoot day and started filming, we found that we did not stick to our original storyboard at all, and continued to change things throughout the day, unlike in the preliminary task, where we stuck to the storyboard completely.
Development of film-making
Technical skills in the preliminary task were not crucial, as we were using this task as a practice to become a customised to working in a group, giving orders, and becoming used to the equipment. For filming we used the Sony DD170 camera and the boom mike. At the beginning we used simple shots to film the storyboard, as we became more confident we started trying camera movements and zooming in while filming. As I was filming in the full product I found that my skills and knowledge of shoots improved immensely from the preliminary task. I was far more confident in what I was doing, which allowed us to get some technical shots in our full product which I think enhanced the product hugely. One crucial element when filming is remembering to stick to the 180 degree rule. It is a basic guide like which is often forgotten about. It means those two characters in the same scene must always have the same left and right relationship to each other. It the preliminary task, because no one had a set job it made filming hard as there were too many people doing one thing. Where as in the full product we all had our set jobs and all stuck to them, which made filming run more smoothly. In the full product you noticed the small things more than anything, like ensuring the papers on the floor and table, where always in the same place, and the correct amount where there each time a shot was re-done, or the coffee on the table, needed to be in the same place every time and at the same level. This gave complete structure to the day and made it run smoothly, where as in the preliminary task because there was little structure it was easy to drift away from keeping the set looking exactly the same on each shot.
Development of Sound and Editing
In our preliminary task, we did not have to do as much editing as in the full product; we also had no need to emphasize any of the sounds in the preliminary task. In the full product, we had to take a lot more time with the post editing, and enhancing the sounds. We spent about five or six weeks editing our full product. Final Cut was a dominant in editing our full product. Our final product was filmed in no order, so all the clips had to be cut, tightened in order for them to fit together which took a lot of time, where as in the preliminary task, there was not as much need for cutting and tightening the clips. We had so many shots in our full product we had to go through them and decided which the best were and which to use, which meant following our storyboard did not help as we had changed it on the shoot day. Having to collect all the clips in the correct order was frustrating as we had so many, and some were similar but we had to look very carefully to pick out the ones which were better. Once we had evaluated each clip we were able to smooth them out and make them fit together nicely. We used soundtrack pro to collect some sounds that we were unable to record ourselves, and to enhance the atmosphere of our product to make it seem more like a thriller. When Russell was talking, but it was being seen from outside the interrogation room, we made his voice sound like it was coming through an intercom system. We also added air conditioning to both rooms to emphasize the fact the young girl was vulnerable.
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