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

Question 7:

The clip below (Jamm production preliminary task) clearly demonstrates how far we have come as a group. It was at this point ,in the very early stages of the year,that we focused  purely on executing new techniques, such as using a variety of close ups and mid shots to create a match on action in order to achieve the goal of continuity.Whilst we understood how to do such techniques,the clip reveals that doing so is our main focus.



However as the year continued we as a group became more knowledgeable of what media actually was as oppose to our assumptions.This was done through research and practical experience of making short films.I personally learnt that in order for a media product to be effective, it had to suspend all disbelief that the audience may have and allow them to delve into a world of entertainment.

Once discovering this key piece of information i recognized that techniques within cinematography,mise en scene,editing and sound,although absolutely integral to our film, needed to be subtle in order to create verisimilitude and therefore a better experience for the audience.

With this in mind our group began to consider how we could film this particular clip,thinking more so about what techniques would enhance the plot of our film as oppose to putting unnecessary techniques into the clip in order to tick items off a checklist.As a result we used a shot list to plan the first 2 minutes of the clip in order to be able to work in a systematic way.

I also found myself thinking more about mise en scene for our film than I had done for the preliminary exercise;going into detail about what the characters would where,there body language ect.This allowed the product to have a more professional feel once finished and once again contributed to the verisimilitude.

The best way of improving my knowledge and skill set for media personally was to look back at the preliminary task and reflect upon where it was maybe not so good or what we could of done better.The main negative aspect of the task I noticed was that at times the clip could look disjointed and not as seamless as possible.However when it came to editing our raw footage to create the final media product using the software 'Final cut pro' for our film 'Zebola' we focused upon connecting scene to scene with accuracy and taking care in details like sound bridges to ensure maximum fluency.

Jamm also experimented with new techniques that could add a different depth to the film for example the green screen.We used a green screen for the news reporter scene as it allowed us to replicate what we see in a actual news broadcast and therefore mimic reality.By doing so it once again added to the verisimilitude.I personally loved learning about the logistics of working with green screen as it opens up so many new editing opportunities, such as special effects and I consider it an important skill to have when working with film.

Upon reflection i feel we made a huge improvement in all aspects of creating a media product and this is portrayed in the difference in standard between the preliminary task and the first two minutes of our film.However in my opinion we did not achieve this through learning new techniques and applying them (although we did do so);we improved because we understood more so what we wanted from the media product due to research,planning,and our audiences influence through questionnaires,therefore altering our approach and resulting in a more professional final product (shown below).