Thinking About Fear

During our lesson we were asked to state our fears and discuss them as a group.After we finished discussing them as a group we put them down on a A3 paper .the green pen is my fears and what i think of other peoples fears,The pink pen is Martyna's  fears and the blue is Harrison.
This task helped me understand other peoples fears and how they are caused.we also added films that develop the idea of fear. For example Martyna said she was scared of the dark.This could have developed from a small  insistent when she was younger leading to a stronger fear as the years developed.One way her fear of the dark could have been developed could have been through horror films.Being scared of the dark is a common thing horror movies would have focused this to make it more effective on the audience. this could develop a fear to people like Martyna creating a image there head that the dark is like a mysterious place where evil things linger.

Main Tak: Set Brief

Here is your set brief:

The titles and opening of a new teen horror film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

Preliminary Task Evaluation.

What did you learn from the experience of filming the footage required for your preliminary task? What went well and what could have ben done better?

After considering the test edit I was weary on how I filmed the preliminary task.We managed to keep our reflections out of the shots this was important as it helped the audience feel emerged in the short film.Another feature that went well in our short film is the amount of takes we did per scene.We did this so it gave us a range of raw footage to work with later on in the task allowing us to do better match on action transitions.Another thing that went well in our filming was the co-operation of our cast members they aloud us to film to our full potential without any hassle or problems .
One thing I learnt from doing this task was that you have to find a quite area in order to film.This became a problem to us in the first part of our short film as you could hear other year groups shouting in their class rooms which could be very distracting to the audience. Next time we could avoid this problem by finding a more quite area.Another area we could improve on next time we edit would be to take more focus on our lighting,as in some scenes it was dark although it payed of in this task as it made the character seem mysterious but in the next task it may not turn out so well.

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

Pre-production: pre production is the task you need to complete before you film. In our case we had to do as follows : casting, storyboarding, location planning and script writing.

Production: Production is the filming of the task using our pre production tasks to guide us through the filming.

Post-production: post-production  is the editing and posting after the film has been filmed. in our case we used iMovie to edit our raw footage.

How easy did you find editing in iMovie? Explain at least 4 different skills or techniques that you learnt during this process. 
I found editing in iMovie really interesting as i like messing around with the software and exploring new effects and music that can be added.I especially like using music in my edits as it gives a certain feel that i would like to portray in my film. Another feature I enjoyed using is the slow motion effect I liked using this as it gave the characters I used it on a sense of importance in the short film. When I combined both music and the  slow motion effect it portrayed the perfect picture of the character.I Also was surprised how easy it was to export the file as i thought it would take a lot of complicating buttons to press but it turned out to just be one simple click of a button.I would have liked it if had more visual effects for me to use and play around with and add into my sort film. I also learnt how to use video effects in imove i especially liked this as i like how it could give any effect that was necessary for what i wanted to portray. The text was also very useful to me as it helped me set the title ans scene so the audience new what was going on in the task.

What is continuity editing?
Continuity editing is when a selection of cutting is used to maintain a continuous clear and action by following clear set of rules.


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


Match on action: Match on action is when you edit your footage so the character actions is fluent between cuts and doesn't look like they have jumped or moved spaces/possession which could confuse the audience or let them loose focus.

shot/reverse shot: Shot reverse shot is a technique where one character is shown looking at another character and visa versa.This applies to the audiences that they are looking at each other.

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.

One of the strengths of our preliminary task is that it had very good match on action. This can be shown when Jake goes to open the door and in other scenes.This allows the audience to believe it is one movement rather than it being edited to make it look like it is one movement.If It was edited the scene wrong then it would have seemed like he jumped to the door rather than one smooth movement.

Another strength of our preliminary task was that we used a range of shots.We did this so it was not the same old camera angle which would eventually make the audience loose interest in hour film.To maintain the audience we included a range of camera angles and shots like: extreme close up, pan, establishing shot and the shoulder shot with its 180 degree rule.

Another strength of our preliminary task was the effectiveness of the 180degree rule.This Was effective as it did not look like they were switching places as we kept to the rule.For example we use the left shoulder of Jake so we could see Agne talking.Then when we wanted to see Jake talk we would use agnes right shoulder to maintain the continuity.This was good as it did not confuse the audience as the characters stayed in there same place through the short film.
One weakness to our short film was the music.Although I included  music in my short film.I think it suited the short film well.But i was as not convinced how smooth it looked between cuts as the music just stopped which i believe makes the short film seem tacky,To improve this i will have to research how to continue the same piece music but at different parts of the short film the music volume changes so it is still noticeable but not overpowering.Also i think the music sends mixed messages throughout the short film as at one point it is Happy the next it is seductive then at the end i haven't got a clue what that was supposed to be.To improve next time i will have to think more carefully about what i am putting into my short film.
Another weakness to our short film was that the background noise was overpowering. I tired to edit the background noise out but for some reason it made it hard to hear the different characters exchange dialogue so i had to leave it in.I think this lowered the continuity and audiences engagement of this film as it would be distracting for the audience.For next time i should either use a better recording device or find a better location.This should have been thought About in my pre production but i must have forgot to consider that factor when planning my location.

Completed Preliminary Task

Test Edit.

Before this task i knew nothing about iMovie and how it works.Now I have finish my test edit I have learnt a range of skills along the way of the task. I now know how to import raw footage on the mac and then to iMovie. I have also learnt how to cut and crop and apply the footage needed into the final clip.When using I movie I also learn how to create text and insert it into the clip this can be seen at the start of the video and at the end for the credits .I also learnt how to adjust the frame rate of a certain clip allowing me to use a slow motion effect on one of the characters although its didn't work to well when i uploaded it to youtube as it staggered allot as youtube was trying to steady it.In some takes of the video you could See a small reflection of the camera man,This will help me in the future as it will teach me to be careful when recording.I also learnt how to use music ans sound effects to give the clip a more powerful impact on the audience.Slide transitions is also a feature I am use to now as I used some subtle transitions when I needed to to make the video seem more smooth.In terms of camera angles and shots I have learn a good group of ones to use thanks to my test edit like tracking shot,extreme close up and the 180 degrees rule.



All the skills I learnt with the tesk edit will now become useful in the preliminary task. For example the use of music will allow me to build tension in the task or set a scene using the music in the background making it appalling to the ear, maintain the viewers attention. Also being able to import the raw footage in the fist place will allow me to actually edit the task so that is a essential skill I need for the preliminary task.Also knowing how to cut footage can really help me out as it allows me to get ride of any bad footage making the end clip seem smooth.Being aware of my surroundings such as reflections and mirrors will also help me later on in media as i will now be aware of whats around me allowing me to stay clear of any reflections that expose the camera. Slide transitions will also help me out in the preliminary task as it will make the clips fit together better rather than a dead stop between each clip.I will also take multiple takes of each scene giving me a wider range to edit with allowing me to be more creative with the editing.