1. Question 7
Looking back at your preliminary
task, what do you feel you have
learnt in the progression from it
to the full product?

2. Time management
For our Preliminary exercise, our time management and overall preparation for the task was clear
and thorough. Similar to this organisation, was that of our film opening. By creating tables,
schedules and notes using organisational websites, we formed an overall piece which I found
effective. This time, having filming and editing commence over an amount of days, we decided to
keep up with our progress through use of video diaries. Here is one of these;
This was such an improvement with regards to time management. Here, we were able to keep
ourselves updated on what was to be done, what was needing progression and what was
completed. I think this was a beneficial adaption towards our time management skills, it meant
we could allocate time out of our schedule to look at what we‟d previously completed.

3. In addition for Time Management
As for grouping up during the creation of the film opening and finding the time to meet at one
another‟s houses, we found a lot of the time, this was a problem for us. Because of work and
family commitments, we didn‟t get much time to physically meet up and begin the editing.
This was not the case for the preliminary task, as this was to be done during school and
lesson times. However, on the off chance that one of us couldn‟t form together, we
reconvened on Skype to talk about developments and gave one another advice, bouncing ideas
from person to person. I found this a tough, but beneficial solution to the issue. So there
wasn‟t such an improvement in this area, but there was no regression to this section either.
In fact, we ended up utilising more technology than we thought we intended in first place.

4. Organisation
To remain organised we used websites such as; Spicynodes,
Bubbl.us and RememberMilk. In addition to this, we used
Blogger to collaborate all of our ideas, as individuals and as
a group.
Constant updates were made every single day and on a
number of occasions, more than once in one day itself.
Keeping the blog updated was an enjoyable task, within
both the film opening and the Preliminary task.
I believe that my blogging as an individual for the
Preliminary was weak and could have been more thorough. I
don‟t think I grouped my evidence, planning and research
well enough. Whereas, for the film opening, I thought this
area was better. This time I had covered everything
possible. Secondly, the blog updates were so much closer
together and continuously updated. This meant we were
individually organised, but also as a group.

5. Camera Work and Mise en scene
The camera work itself was massively improved. However, when looking back at the shots used during the
preliminary, I realised there were more shots used throughout that piece, than our film opening. I was
disappointed with the outcome of the shots used, although, I do believe the filming/recording of each
clip was vastly improved from the previous task.
With both the preliminary task and film opening, for mise en scene, we had really delved into great depth and
looked into previous films of the same genre and how they each had taken into account their
surroundings. Afterall, the setting and surroundings really do help create the film itself.
I feel we took more attention to shots that
were used in films of the same genre, more
during our film opening than in the preliminary.
I believe this helped our work, as we were able
to connect more with the audience and we
then new more about what the target audience
wanted from the film.

7. Editing
Our editing progression from the preliminary task was a huge step forward. Having only used
Premiere Pro CS3 for this, we decided to extend our skills further by using CS6. The CS6
version was on my iMac at home, where we had other softwares available to us, such as;
iMovie, Photoshop CS6, After Effects CS6 and finally, Premiere Pro CS6. This made editing
so much more advanced, and gave us more of a head start than other groups, as our
technology and editing options/templates were much better.
To create our titles for the film opening, we used both iMovie, After Effects and Premiere Pro
CS6. Straight away, we had discovered that we‟d used so much more technology/software
within our film opening than our preliminary.
The difference between CS3 and CS6 was a giant change. There were more title templates,
more effect options, more transition changes and the font types were of a greater amount.
I loved using this editing software, as we could do so much within it. Without this software
to edit, I believe we would have managed and obviously done our best with the tools we were
given, however, I think with the extra editing software advance, it really benefitted our
work, as a whole.

8. Mise en scene
The teenagers bedroom at the start of the film opening, was a middle class, typical teenage girl‟s hide-out.
We created the girl‟s bedroom to look relatable. This way our audience would have felt a connection to
the character‟s portrayed. The room was filled with boy-band posters, perfume bottles and fluffy pillows.
Although we took into account the mise en scene etc during the preliminary task, I believe we put more
thought into creating this and it became really beneficial to specifically attracting our target audience.
The amount we thought about mise en scene, with regards to costumes throughout the film opening and
preliminary task, was great. I believe we really took into account social backgrounds and what the target
audience would find attractive and appealing. However, when thinking about this, I do believe we could
have delved slightly deeper into thinking about social backgrounds and the target audience with our prelim
task. The extent of the research completed
The two characters presented here
both adhere to their social
background. For example the
costumes worn by both, represent
their profession. One particular
thing we focussed on, was the
female‟s costume- We wanted it to
attract the male side of our target
audience, yet still keep her
professionalism and formal
exterior.
With this costume, we
wanted to attract our
target audience. In
particular, the males, as
after countless surveys
and polls, we found this
was the predominant
gender likely to watch our
film opening. We wanted
to keep it traditionally
British, something that
didn‟t stand out too much
and typical to the modern
era, yet something slightly
vintage that would be
likely to stand the test of
time.

9. Convention
Overall, during the Preliminary task we didn‟t even look at conventions or anything to do with
audience reception. This made us think about how the audience would look upon our clip. We
challenged, developed and subverted conventions so that our genre would be more obvious to
the audience. Some of the conventions we challenged were amongst-
• The opening of the film itself (no action straight away, for the film‟s entrance)
• The obvious powers of the superhero
• The female protagonist, instead of a male lead
• We chose not to incorporate a suit/mask/logo/trademark, like Iron Man, Captain America
and Thor, typical Superhero films.
I found that researching conventions really aided our film opening
and also made it easier to subtly drop „hints‟ throughout the film
opening, about the protagonist‟s powers, without revealing too
much information about the plot/narrative like the stereotypical
Superhero films we see today.

10. Planning
I believe our planning stages were excellent for both the prelim task
and the film opening. We were extremely thorough within creating
plans for each and I was happy with going into the filming and
editing process, knowing that all of our work was prepared and
ready to go!
For planning, during the prelim, I thought we did more than expected
of us providing we only had to come up with a base idea, plan our
filming and complete the editing, which was only done to a basic
level. This set us up really well in preparation for our film opening…
the real thing!
Planning for the film opening itself went really well and played to our
strengths as a group and as individuals. We all found it interesting
and fun to complete, which is why our planning turned out so
effective and thorough.
We used the same software in both the prelim task and the film
opening , which aided our planning as we immediately knew how to
operate Blogger and all of the organisational websites available to
us.
Creating the storyboard as a group
during the lesson. Here we gathered
up all of our previous research on
conventions, social backgrounds and
general ideas we had from previous
nights work.

11. Storyboard
Doing the storyboard, for our preliminary proved a challenged for us as a group. The reason for
this, was because we were almost describing, using words, what was going to happen during
every clip. Obviously the point in having a storyboard, was to keep it short and effective.
Having done it like this, it slowed our filming process up slightly. We really learnt from this
mistake through our film opening task, and implemented the efficient work ethic throughout
all of our planning. We ensured our storyboard was quick and thorough. In addition to this,
making it quicker we used an animatic on Premiere Pro CS3, to create an even more efficient
version of the storyboard, avoiding any slow downs like the one around our preliminary task.
The animatic

12. Use of titles
The use of titles during our preliminary, was non existent. We were told not to use titles for
this, as the main point of the task itself, was to just get to grip with using the camera and
editing software. However, despite not knowing how to create titles, we ventured to
YouTube and discovered how to create them. After discussing with peers in the lessons
about title improvements, we were told they needed to look slightly “more professional”. To
do this, we turned to iMovie. Here were the titles we had created.
Our production
company name.
Our
introductory
title.
Another title.
For the rest of the titles, using iMovie, to incorporate the comic book idea, we decided to use a
comic book template.

13. Titles continued…
We decided to go with conventions here.. Meaning, the use of the videos during film opening of
Iron Man for example, was where a video then turned into a still image, which almost
morphed into a cartoon icon. Here is our version. Our version, was using a comic book
template from iMovie. We then imported these titles over to Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. Even
with regards to the titles, we found that we used so much more advanced software than
during our preliminary.
We took inspiration from this comic book effect during the end
titles of Iron Man.

14. A final note..
When looking back, I can clearly see there has been some vast
improvements, with regards to software usage, editing, footage quality,
camera work and operational use has improved, team work and
organisational skills. I also do believe time management has remained
the same, if not slightly better, as we were working to alternative
demands and under different circumstances. I thoroughly enjoyed
creating both pieces of work and I will take into account all things
learnt and improved upon, from both tasks.