Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I think that my knowledge and skills have improved dramatically since the preliminary task. I had little experience in both filming and editing at the time of the preliminary task and so I feel as if this project has been a great learning curve.

For the preliminary task (above) I was in a group with Amy and we had to demonstrate continuity by:
"...filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue."

We also had to incorporate the following techniques:

• Match on action
• 180 degree rule
• Shot reverse shot

Planning

As you can see from the table below, a lot more preparation was required for our main project. 

Both tasks involved choosing shots and writing dialogue but overall the thought process, including shots, was much more detailed for our main task. 

Storyboard for prelim

Storyboard for main task

                                    

Production

We demonstrated the techniques of match on action and shot reverse shot in both our preliminary task and our main project.

Over the shoulder

Preliminary task

Main task

Match on action

Preliminary task

Main Task

Running the shoot

I filmed all of the preliminary task but I was able to experiment and challenge myself more with the camera in the main task as some shots looked better if handheld and the angles were more complex. We had many more takes on the shoots for our main task as there was more detail and accuracy required and more scenes to shoot. There was certainly more teamwork involved in set for the main task and it helped to have two people (Amy and I) managing the technology. We discussed how we would tackle each shot in terms of lighting as well as angle, unlike the preliminary task where only angle needed to be considered. Finally, we ran the shoots in the main task more professionally as we always used the clapperboard and the headphones and said the correct things e.g. "Sound?" "Rolling."

Post Production

Our edit suite

Editing in definitely the area where my knowledge and skills have developed the most in terms of progression from the preliminary task to the main project. These are some examples of how I have improved and what I have learnt along the way:

• I had limited knowledge in Adobe Premiere Pro for the preliminary task and did not need or get the chance to exercise many skills for it as all we needed to do was cut the footage, so it was a quick process.
• For the main task, we had already used the program for our animatic and test shoot so by the time we edited the main shoot and back-up shoot, we were quite used to it.
• We had to do a lot more editing on Adobe Premiere Pro for our main task as we needed to: choose from a larger number of shots, cut them down, add in music, add in effects/grade and add in titles. As we had so much to do, we learnt to be efficient and got things done quickly as we had more experience.
• I learnt how to grade using Procamp and Three way colour corrector so I know more about incorporating effects on this program, which was not required for our first task.
• I learnt how to create simple titles and add a simple effect using Livetype. 
• The main thing I would like to improve on is being able to cut footage quicker.

Teamwork

The preliminary task was a good starting point for working as a team. During this task we found that communication over social networks was a really efficient way to work and this method was used for our main task.

Our group in pre-production

Our group on set

Our group in post-production

We had to work together through various stages of the project and so it was important that we got along and discussed any problems we had, which we did. There were few disagreements. We all equally did our bit and put in effort. I am most proud about the way the professional way in which we dealt with situations, for example:

- the ability to agree to change the original music I selected 

- good communication which enabled us to change person in the photos with very little time

Conclusion
Overall, the main task has allowed me to learn many new things and improve the skills I began to develop in the preliminary task. Not only has this experience been valuable, but it has also been extremely fun and I am proud with the outcome of 'Unlawful.' I am grateful to Amy and Shayam for being such helpful and kind team members and although in hindsight we would probably have changed some aspects to make our product better, none of us can deny that this has been a massive learning curve for all of us.