Evaluation Question 7

Going from our preliminary task, which involved filming a short, 30 second sequence with very few actors, a simple set and no major editing requirements, to our actual opening, in which we had to juggle several actors in a complicated location, I feel that I have learned a great deal about the filming process.
Firstly, I developed my skills in the planning process of film making due to the logistical issues we faced and needed to overcome. We created shot lists and storyboards for our openings which we felt were important to go through meticulously and rigorously as we originally intended to film some of our sequence on the DLR – for this, we felt that an efficient film shoot was highly important as there were a number of problems we could have potentially faced filming there. We faced one such problem – we were not permitted to film on the DLR train when we arrived at the station for our recce. We felt that we could not subsequently film in our other location which was near the DLR station as there would be location continuities. After performing different recces on different locations, we finally settled on the one we have now – London Bridge and the bank below it.
When we came to filming our film, I found that I progressed a great deal. For one thing, having to transpose our idea into a different setting meant that we had to make some on the spot directorial choices about how we would shoot the scenes and I feel that the decisions and changes we made were adequate and cinematic. This may have come from our research into similar media products of the thriller genre.
We also managed to improve our technical understanding of the equipment far beyond our original knowledge of it when we filmed our preliminary task. I found that I was unsure about how much of the technology worked for our prelim despite the fact that it did not require as much technology as we used for the final shoot. Due to the amount of recces we did however – approximately 3 in total – I felt significantly more confident with regard to using the equipment.

I feel that the area I developed in most, however, was film editing. When editing my preliminary task I had little knowledge of the editing software we were using. Furthermore, we were not required to do much sound editing at all and what continuity editing we had to do was simple and minimal. In our final project, however, the sound of our film – which included cars going across a bridge, church bells and plenty of wind – required much sound editing which I was personally appointed the task of. During the course of the sound editing, I learnt how to detach audio from video clips, how to match audio levels and reduce background hum – each of these tools I used frequently to make our sound seamless. Our continuity editing also improved substantially with the creation of our final product - we successfully managed to use eye line matches, match on actions and shot reverse shots.

Overall, I feel that I have learnt and developed the most in the planning and editing stages - most importantly, I have learnt the importance of these two stages of production as we faced challenges during our production which to overcome relied on the strength of our planning and our skills in the editing process - neither of which we developed a great deal in the run up to our preliminary task.