7.) PRELIMINARY TASK VS FILM OPENING- WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT?

Throughout the film-making process I feel that I have learnt a great deal of new things I didn’t know at the start. Even though I have used Final Cut Express 4 last year I only had a simple idea of what I was able to do, however after the making of this film I have had a much better idea in many things. I learnt how to add filters and video transitions to make the film more effective and professional. I also learnt how to use effects such as slow motion and flashbacks to tell the story. Furthermore I learnt how to boost the sound of the video to make it sound better which I never knew to do whilst making our preliminary task.

Since we couldn’t find the right non-copyright music for our film, we used garageband to make our own soundtrack which also I never knew how to start when doing my preliminary task. After practising a few times on garageband we were finally able to start creating are own soundtracks in order to suit with the theme of our film. We used different beats, bases and instruments so that we all agreed which one sounded best and suited with our film.

To create our production logo and credits we used livetype so that it looked more professional. We had to look at many fonts so that we could find the perfect font to suit with the theme of our film. We were also able to alter the fonts, styles, effects and sizes so that the credits suited perfectly with our film.

Furthermore our preliminary tasks were very short and simple which we were able to finish in two hours, compared to the finished film which took us around 6 weeks to finish. I have learnt how to handle time properly since we had very little time to finish a lot of work. Also the shots needed for the preliminary task were very simple and were able to be done in two minutes, however for the final film we had to think about locations, costume and sound, which made it very difficult. We had to put all our efforts in to make sure we finished everything on time and had to co-operate together to make sure it was to its best standards. We were all under pressure and very stressed however we made sure we worked together and all agreed on what needed to be done.
I have had a much better insight on a characters development in a film. I learnt that the costume and location is very important in foreshadowing a character’s motivations. Using costume such as red nail varnish and red lipstick for Izabella was all to foreshadow her motivations, danger and violence. This is in contrast to our preliminary task were costume wasn’t major.

Also I learnt how to use a blog which is something I didnt know how to use before. I learnt how to upload, edit and change different posts. Furthermore the editing for the film was much harder then the editing for our preliminary task since much more time and effects were needed so that everything fitted in place. Last but not least I learnt how important sound is when producing a film. We had a major sound problem when producing our film however we were not capable to do anything to solve it. However this has been an advantage to us since we can use this for future reference.

Overall I feel that it has been a great experience both making the preliminary task to our final film. I am very happy with our final outcome and have learnt many things which will help me in the future.