Question 7:Looking back at your

preliminary task, what do you feel that you have

learnt in the progression from it to full product

Sonam Nguyen

How did you begin the task of planning your film?We began the planning stage of our film, Fourteen Years, after our preliminary task which was to use 3 different conventions of film (these included the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot). The preliminary task was vital in planning and research for our actual OTS, as it gave us an idea of what went well originally, and which factors we could drop in the opening title sequence. How did you work collaboratively, bringing individual ideas together to form a single film idea?In this case, we worked as a group to begin thinking about different narratives and ideas for our plot and settings, in this stage we created a story board to put our thoughts onto paper.How did you delegate tasks, based on individual skills etc?We delegated our tasks based on our individual skills, this means that Remy Hughes was the cameraman (as she is taking A level film), Georgia Lewis was an actress (as her cousin, Tabitha acted as her daughter, so we felt this was appropriate), Katie Green was designated as the editor (due to her previous knowledge of editing in film studies) and finally Sonam Nguyen the director who brainstormed the narrative and helped plan the film trips.

Part 1: Forming groups and working collectively on the

project:

In what ways was working in a group rewarding?Working in a group was definitely rewarding in terms of ideas and having different skills and abilities. We found that each member had a different skills which helped create our opening title sequence to the best of our ability. The advantage of working in a group means that you can finish the work faster and quicker by joining all the elements together. The importance of working in a group because you can learn from each other and this will help everyone new different skills by watching or doing. The rewarding aspects is shown after the whole project is finished because you can see all the small elements as a group which have been put together to provide the whole product.In what ways was it challenging / difficult etc.On the other hand, working in a group also could be seen as challenging, especially as we all had different schedules, which meant that everyone needed to adapt their free time into working on the project. The communication skills at times were challenging making sure everyone would be on set at a particular time to film the footage. Making sure everyone is punctual most times is hard and this will reduce the time needed to film the footage and edit the footage. Also relying on others to complete the task on tine as they have been given the task from the whole group.

Part 1

Discuss how the preliminary exercise was an introduction to the concepts and practical application of continuity filming and editing (where you had to keep to the 180o rule, show match on action and shot reverse shot).The preliminary task gave us an introduction to the concepts of continuity filming and editing, this helped us add different shots (such as shot reverse shots, match on action and the 180 degree rule) into our OTS making it flow and look realistic.You can discuss how being new to filming you had to learn these concepts from scratch and how you only truly learnt how to shoot in this way after doing it ‘practically’ and seeing the results edited together.Having to do the preliminary task (hands on activity to try out all of the equipment) really helped me learn all of the basics of film (different camera works, angles and editing skills). Once doing the opening title sequence, we used all of the practical skills that we learnt from the preliminary task. Looking back at the final OTS I have noticed truly how much I’ve learnt from doing all of these activities and that all of the practice resulted in a good piece of work.You should discuss how this exercise went (look back at your footage and notes to remind yourself) – what did you find challenging, what went wrong, what worked really well. Our first location that we decided to film at was the Brighton Pier, this did not result well (even though we did have filming permission) as there were too many strangers for our scene and the lighting was terrible. We then chose to film at a more secluded location (Hollingbury Park) which fit really well with our narrative and thriller genre. The weather was horrible but it worked well with the scene and resulted in pathetic fallacy (weather reflected the mood of the characters).As well as the filming techniques, you also had to learn the following skills (discuss this): group work, delegation of tasks & roles, planning, storyboarding etc.Group work was crucial as we all worked very well together, this meant that everyone needed to participate with their own ideas and by offering feedback to other group members. Secondly, we all knew our role in the group and from the fact that we all worked well together helped us achieve our final opening title sequence. Finally our planning stage involved all of us discussing and creating a storyboard to give us an idea of what the final result of our OTS would look like, we also made a risk assessment and a filming schedule to keep our group organized. Overall what did you learn from the exercise that you improved on / applied to your Opening Title Sequence.Overall, we learnt the 3 conventions of film (shot reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule) which we used in our OTS and developed upon them to make our scenes look natural. We also used a range of shots and angles (long shots to show distance, high angles to show vulnerability and weakness).

Part 2: Preliminary Exercise: a filming and editing continuity

exercise

Planning – did you now start planning it with more of a filmmaker’s eye? – ie: shot by shot and with mise-en-scene in mind?When we planned our OTS on the storyboard, we all had a better sense of which shots would be used, and what they were called (an example of this could be, when we used a low angle shot over the empty swing, the colours of the sky were dark/heavy which made the scene look like something was lost or in our movie, kidnapped). How useful was your planning (storyboarding, recces, shot lists, costume & props ideas etc.)Planning made the whole procedure much easier as everything was planned out and organized. Storyboarding and creating a shot list meant we knew exactly what we needed to film even before going to the location, secondly using the recce and risk assessment helped us solve any problems that may occur with the safety issues and location issues. Thirdly, organizing the props and costumes helped create a more realistic atmosphere.Filming day – do you feel you were now able to be more ambition in terms of your ideas, knowing about continuity filming and the variety of shots, angles etc. open to you. Which scenes / shots are you most proud of and why?On the filming day, our group felt much more confident, especially as we had prepared so well, from our failed filming attempt at Brighton Pier. Personally I really like the shot where there is an empty swing swinging, and the title ‘Fourteen Years’ appears in the Fluoxetine font. Why did you re film certain parts of your work? Are there any issues when re-shooting (continuity of shot, mise-en-scene, weather etc.)We had to re-shoot some of the footage because of the colour correction. This enabled us to get better footage for editing.

 Part 3: planning and filming your Thriller Opening Title Sequence

The editing improved from our preliminary exercise as we used more transitions, a wider array of visual and sound effects. From practicing on our prelim, the overall professionalism increased because of the skills that we learnt and adapted in our opening title sequence.

For our opening title sequence, we went through a rough cut stage, where our shots we basic to help us have a continuity sequence which can be edited with more visual effects.

I helped find the soundtrack and sound effects which were placed in the final version of our opening title sequence.

I have learnt a significant amount from both of these activities (moving from a rough cut to the final version of our sequence), the importance of timing and contributing ideas and feedback to my group, this helped me use and gain skills to help improve our opening title sequence.

Part 4: Editing