1) Which aspect of the planning stage did you find most valuable? Explain.
I found the storyboard planning essential during the initial filming of our preliminary task as it saved time, our group did not need to decide which shots we were filming or how to film them as we had already decided during planning.
All of our shots had been decided, which helped as we filmed our piece in a different sequence than planned, for example we shot all our outside shots first and then shot indoors. This meant that we knew the order of our shots when it came to editing.
Our storyboard became especially helpful once we had filmed our preliminary task as our computer did not save our initial piece, therefore our group knew we had a limited amount of time to film in order to fit in time for editing. We used the storyboard and our knowledge of the past piece and were able to create this easily and quickly without any problems. For this reason in particular storyboard planning helped our group.
It was also helpful to watch previous media preliminary tasks as we could understand what looked professional and what did not. It allowed us to take these into account while planning on our storyboard and choose which shots we wanted to include and which ones we did not want to choose as they either looked unprofessional or would have taken up too much of our filming time.
2) What did you learn about camerawork during the practical filming of the preliminary task?
The only problem we came across during filming was that if we chose to shoot with a handheld camera our hands were continuously shaking and it gave the shot a unprofessional look. After watching the shot back we decided to shoot all of our text using the tripod, which helped our group immensely as we then could shoot using a level and straight camera, in order to stop the shaking and also allow all of our shots to be straight. The tripod allowed us to raise and lower the camera while still keeping a straight shot, and also allow our shots to all be the same when filming certain scenes several times consecutively. Using the tripod helped us during the editing process as our shots were all equal and matched up to the same level as the proceeding shots.
I also learned how to manage filming shots without them being in the same order, in which our storyboard was helpful. I learned that as a group we were able to film scenes which were in the same setting at the same time, even if they were not consecutively after each other. For example, we had to shoot over 2 days as our initial film did not save onto the computer and when we came to shoot we knew we had a limited time before we had to begin editing so we chose to shoot all the outside sequences before the indoor sequences and then edit them into an order during the editing process.
3) How did the editing process contribute to your understanding of the construction of a media text?
The editing process was of the biggest importance as I could then see that our media text was not completed by just filming. Editing took up most of our time and we all had the opportunity to edit certain shots, which was helpful to us all.
By editing this preliminary task it helped me to understand the best way to film, by filming each sequence several times and choosing the best shot of each sequence, which would allow us to have the best of all our shots.
I understood that editing took more time than the filming, which will allow us to have better time management during our main task.
Editing to the accurate split-second was also vital, if we edited our text with a matter of being 2 seconds longer it was clear where the cut was. Similarly if we edited and cut out too little our shot looked like it was not finished. Our editing had to be precise in order to make our text look professional.
I also learned that although we had around 30 minutes of film on our camera, once we had edited our text came to around 20 seconds long. It became clear that in order to have a 2 minute clip for our main task we would need to shoot a lot more, as editing takes away most of our film.
4) What are your overall impressions of the construction of your media text in your group?
I feel that our media preliminary text was a good learning curve as it allowed us to plan, film and edit a text without it being our final piece. It meant that we learned how to time our text and how a lot of filming took up only a small piece of film.
I feel that our media text was of a good quality for a first time planning, filming and editing. I was especially pleased with the editing as it allowed the whole group to help with the piece.
I feel that we worked well as a group, and this was probably down to our planning and pre construction before filming as it eliminated any debates during the construction and editing.
