Task 7:

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

Looking back at our preliminary task, I think that we learnt a lot and made big progress.
First of all, the planning of the sequence was totally different, for the preliminary task we had nearly no planning, apart from deciding, where to put the one light we have and what person we could grab of the schoolyard to be a part in our sequence.

The planning for the main sequence task was totally different, we planned and changed our idea for many weeks, we decided especially, what people we would need and what we were going to shoot.
Also we had to come up with an idea of our own that would have to be material for a whole film, although we would only be doing the first two minutes.
In the preliminary task we had a fixed script and a fixed storyboard with the different shots, we needed to do.

Another thing that was different was planning where to shoot: for the preliminary task we just shot in a classroom, for the main task we had many ideas, like going to Ewhurst and Hurtwood and maybe shoot the roads surrounded by the forest as well.In the end we only shot at Hurtwood, on top of the theatre, next to the theatre and at the bottom of the theatre.

Another thing we did not worry about in our prelimary task, but that was now relevant and necessary for the main task was costumes.
We had to organize a costume for our main actor and for the dummy that we threw off the roof.

This brings me to another point: props.
For the preliminary task, we only had one prop: a gun that was lying on a table, for our main task, we had to print of all these banknotes on the paper for the beginning, when James had to throw the paper of the roof, we had to build a dummy, organize a similar costume for it (as James), get a wig for it with similar hair and make it look real.

Also the shots and the whole camera work was totally different. In the preliminary task we just used one camera and did the specific shots on the sheet.
The main task was much more difficult, we had to think of our own shots, we worked with tracks to do tracking shots. When we were filming the paper, we followed the paper with the camera at times, to get a shot of that.

Looking at lighting the two tasks were not that different, as we used one lamp for the preliminary task in the classroom and no lighting, just natural lighting as we filmed outside for the main sequence task.

Also the editing progress was very different to the one in the preliminary task, where we only spent two lessons editing roughly, putting the different shots next to each other.
In our main task, we spent weeks editing, looking at smooth and sudden cuts, looking at a specific style for our sequence and looking at how to keep the scene exiting and mysterious.
In general we learned how to really work with Final Cut Pro and how to use effects, like fading in a shot.During the editing progress, we also focused on sound, that we did not focus on at all in the preliminary task, where we just checked, whether you could still understand the dialogue.

We also used the exact sound from the shooting day, whereas in the main task we rerecorded everything, which we were force to do in the first place, as there was a rehearsal in the theatre for a concert anyway.
We worked with the Soundtrack Pro Program and used stylistic music and effects that suited the sequence. We combined different sounds together and made the transition from one sound to another smooth.

Another thing that was different to the prelimary task was that we used titles for our main title sequence.
We did this with the Final Cut Pro Text Tool and let the titles fade in, looked at different writings and how professional films did their titles and compared them to ours.
We looked at good moments where the titles could be seen well, but would not distract from the actions.

The very last thing we did in our editing progress was working with 'After Effects', where you can add or lose bits of a shot, to finish the end of the sequence in a way that James could after the jump, fall on for a longer time.
We placed him in New York and we let him fall down the skyline, because we thought that that would probably more exciting than to let him fall down the school theatre.
Another thing that we thought was important, was that the theatre was not that high anyway and that James probably would have survived his jump with major injuries and this would not have suited the story.
Another reason why we choose New York was to underline the represented audience (Businessman/banker in New York) and also because it made the scene seem more universal.

In general I would say that the main task was much more difficult, complex and professional than the preiminary task, especially in terms of planning and editing and I think that we have learnt a lot in terms of filmmaking.