Evaluation Activity: Progression

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

Due to the difference in the scale of production between the preliminary (Jake 16:3) and opening (Homme De La Montagne), there were forced contrasts in terms of camerawork, editing, sound.

Camerawork

In the preliminary task, the sole focus of the project was to integrate three prominent camera shots including: The 180-degree rule, Match on Action and the Shot Reverse Shot. This immediately shortened the length of my creativity in terms of the variety of shots I could display in the task.

With the opening sequence, I felt freer in terms of the range of camera shots to carry out which widened the creative side of the project. For example, in my opening sequence I used a tracking shot, high angle shots and close ups.     

Shots from Jake 16:3:

Shots from Homme De La Montagne:

As shown above, these shots are a lot more interesting and appealing to the audience depicting the difference in shots and creativity between the preliminary task and the opening sequence.

Editing

In terms of editing, I spent around 2-3 hours editing the preliminary task, making it the best I could and I thought this amount of time was quite justifiable. I think when it came to editing; there were fewer varieties of shots and effects to add. When it came to editing my opening sequence this amount of time almost quadrupled. 

I feel there is very large difference in the style of editing between the two productions. The opening sequence was more visually pleasing in comparison to the preliminary task. This was largely down to using Final Cut Express 4 in the Preliminary Task and taking the step up to the more advanced Final Cut Pro X for the Opening Sequence which has often been described as the most superior editing program out there.

Sound

With the preliminary task, my only aim relating to non-diabetic sound was to find a soundtrack that fit with the occurrences in the film and reflect the atmosphere in the scene.

However, with the opening sequence, I wanted to highlight my target audience through the use of a soundtrack, so had to find a well-known and male centred piece of music. I went into great depth to find the perfect soundtrack which turned out to be 'Seven Nation Army' by The White Stripes.