Preliminary Task Evaluation

1. 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?

I've learnt different shots but also how to use them effectively. For instance, when the character's about to walk in a room, a close-up of their hand grabbing the handle would be the most appropriate angle in this case give because it makes the whole scene more credible. I also learnt how to use different camera movements which included panning and over the shoulder shots. Most of the filming went well because the characters were focused and being cooperative  However, different factors hindered the filming process such as people walking in and out the room. To make the process easier, I could have warned people that a scene was being shot in a certain room so it couldn't be available to access.

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

A pre-production is everything someone produced before the production, so the filming process will be smooth and the producers will be organised and the actors well-rehearsed. Pre-production tasks include the storyboard, the location planning as well as the casting. 

A production is the actual filming process. The main production should go smooth and there should be no major problems, thanks to the pre-production, which is made especially for thinking thoroughly about the production. 

Whereas the post-production is mainly about the editing of the main filming footage.

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

Editing in iMovie was relatively easy. During the process, I learnt how to:

• Import music onto your music library
• Add text onto my footage
• Trim bits of my raw footage and stick it onto the actual project
• Add in different sound effects onto the actual project                                                                                                          

4. What is continuity editing?

Continuity in editing means that everything flows in a consistent, orderly, smooth, sequential manner. For example, in one frame of a movie, a man might be wearing a red shirt. In the next scene or frame, he should still be wearing the same red shirt, not a blue or green one -- indicating that the shot was maybe repeated the next day and the wardrobe people forgot to have the actor wear the same shirt.

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

a) Match on action is where the perspective of the camera changes during a scene and the scene continues to flow. 

b) A shot reverse shot is when a character is shown looking at another character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in the opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.

6. Analyse your preliminary task as a piece of continuity editing. What are its strengths and what are its weaknesses. You may find it useful to include targetted screen shots (cmd+shift+4)to illustrate the points that you make.

The strengths of my preliminary task were that I used different types of shots to make the short movie more entertaining and engaging. For instance I used a mid shot as shown on the picture on the left, and used a long shot as shown on the picture on the right. 

I also managed to display two moments simultaneously at the beginning of the movie: Jake making his way into the room, and Agne waiting and checking her phone. It makes the movie more interesting and detailed, but also gets the audience excited and intrigued.

The main weaknesses of my short movie are the stabilization and the sound. The stabilization in certain shots was poor which made the movie look not really professional. The sound was also feeble, due to background noises coming from the corridor. They can be heard especially during the dialogue, when the sound is hugely inconsistent and not really pleasing to the listener's ear.