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?

The prelim I created was very limited in my opinion despite being technically relatively sound. From the prelim I feel I have learnt a lot about the film making process and work in which is vitally put into production in order to make the final product something of value. Planning was a huge progression from the prelim being the prelim was shot impromptu with no clear steer of the story's progression the Prelim was almost impossible to establish a genre for.

Planning a successful piece of video work is something I learnt and the depth in which you have to plan truly astounded me how every little element has to be controlled in order to achieve the right level of execution making the piece a potential success. Researching a genre was a huge learning process to me and getting to grips with the aspects of genres that made them so poignant was a huge development from the prelim task which had no planning at all. Analysing in depth specific elements and trends within a genre and how this would help me define my production (titles, shot types, colour.ect).

Being that I was the only member of my group and was producing Fidelity alone, time management was a huge factor I had on my hands as I knew I was responsible for getting everything done other groups could have distributed amongst themselves, the prelim task was done in groups and I found that having less control on the outcome of the prelim was something I disliked so from then decided in order to have full control over my film idea I would have to be physically responsible for every aspect of production. Time managing I felt was genuinely well managed I was able to meet all deadlines with ease as I had scheduled my shoots and thankfully had no major issues regarding weather on the dates and due to being awake early on the car scene shoot we were able to achieve the look we wanted when we wanted without having the reschedule any re shoots. Planning shoots was a key way of doing this I was able to set out exactly what I wanted to achieve and when this was done through storyboarding which helped give a more accurate idea of how the final product was going to look allowing me to tailor shots to suits the mood of the shot and sequence.

Pitching was a really great experience of the creation of the film and something completely new from the prelim. Pitching gave me a chance to really craft a presentation that was designed to showcase Fidelity in the best light possible  which in real life would be to investors of production companies who would jump on board at the idea. It was a great new and exciting was to practice commercialising my media product giving me a chance to put my ideas out there against some of the other groups. It allowed me to identify key weaknesses in the film and my pitching performance and from other groups i was able to take tips and pointers on how i could improve my performance should there be a next time.

Casting was a huge area for flexibility in comparison to the prelim I chose to go for adult actors to really sell my production across it being a crime short therefore in need of some adult talent. Casting unlike the prelim would really determine the success of the production from the audience perspective making it believable or not. Thankfully I had a few male friends who were interested in being a part of this who had some sort of acting experience in the past. Props similarly to cast were an area in which i had much greater flexibility as i was not limited to things which could be brought into school and with the prelim having little planning there was no real opportunity to bring props for the shoot so in order to create Fidelity to a higher degree of realism I was able to use prop guns in which would not be allowed into school giving us more creative flexibility.

Thankfully finding a location came quickly to me and once again due to the fact we were not limited to the school environment like the prelim task so thankfully i was able to source a local location i found would be perfect to shoot in. Going to do some test shots there revealed some flaws to the location but visually it was too good to not take advantage of to I decided to base the shoot there which i felt was a major improvement from the prelim task.

Creating rough cuts and really refining and finalising editing was a new process compared to the prelim as being only one cut produced from the prelim it gave me flexibility to receive feedback and adjust the final look to the film accordingly. Sound design and production is something I had never really explored before Fidelity with the prelim using only in camera audio recorded there was no real chance to create an environment through sound and creating music was something id never explored before. I wanted to create tracks to suit the genre I chose so this required further research into sound design of inspirational films to try and replicate some of these elements to increase mood primarily creating a more mysterious and tense environment I was not able to create with the prelim due to lack of planning time and over all time for the production.

I had even experimented with SFX design for Fidelity in After Effects digitally compositing a blood hit which I would not have been able to do with the prelim due to again time restriction. In addition the creation of idents was something that further enhanced my production from the prelim and really shows evidence of the journey I have been on to achieve the final product.

Cinematography being the field i had the most experience in I found that generally the quality of the prelim cinematics wise was relatively sound however I used feedback I had identified from the prelim to ensure I tweaked the shooting style on set for a more impactful cinematic performance. Being able to once again plan shots so that i knew exactly the effect they would have and being able to plan the shots i would use in order to create the specific mood which in the prelim i did not do.

As mentioned earlier Fidelity was solely my production as far as planning goes. I was lucky enough to have a friend help out being a boom operator on set however I am responsible for the whole creation of the final piece.

Conclusion

Things I have learnt

- how to effectively plan a production (storyboarding, treatments, screenplay)

- managing talent and sourcing suitable locations to suit the film idea.

-Sound design ( realistic to create atmosphere )

- Music production to suit mood and shift mood in some cases also taking inspiration off existing crime films.

- Improved Glidecam techniques (arc shot)

- location scouting, what to look for and what not too.

- Low level SFX (ident, Fidelity title, Blood hit)

- Set management

- reflecting on audience feedback and tweaking production to suit market needs.

- Viewing production from a commercial view and analysing potential success.