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?

In the preliminary exercise I was acting and so was not able to be involved in the filming process. However during our main task I was able to be fully flexible to all roles and had an active part in the whole project. I learnt about shooting using the 180-degree rule and using master shots, both of which came in really handy in the editing sessions. Also as we chose our groups for the main task, I feel in this task I have been able to more freely speak my mind about all decisions and have good discussions about our creative differences. My filming skills have greatly improved and I can now execute most of the filming techniques we practised in the prelim task effectively.

I have learnt a lot about research having done almost none for the prelim exercise but having worked a lot with Simon on creating diagrams and reccy videos to help the group blog progress. Also from this I have learnt about blogging and working in a production team and the importance of keeping everyone in the loop. We had problems early on where people did not know what was happening at certain times but by the end of the project we were organised in making sure everyone knew what was going on.

Most of the skills I have developed have been organisation skills. I wrote the scripts for both "The Streets Run Red" and "The Case" and then we translated these into shooting scripts which helped cut down on filming time, and also on re-shoots. Without the shooting scripts we would have missed out lots of footage that we needed and wasted a lot of time on shoot. I have also learnt the importance of storyboarding, even if not fully drawing out every shot, by making diagrams of how you want something to turn out you can go back to it while filming to check if you are filming correctly.

One thing I have learnt which was not relevant in the prelim task is to secure your location before planning around it. We spent around a month planning for "The Streets Run Red" in the car park but had to abandon it as we could not get permission to film there. However, filming in my house turned out to be a lot easier and we still managed to be creative with a simple idea.

In the editing stage I learnt that you always need more footage than you think, and shots always seem longer than they actually are. This led to us taking more time on the reshoots and thinking through shots very carefully so as not to create problems in the edit room. I also learnt about the importance of a match on action, a device that we do not really notice in most films as they are done so well. The most noticeable example of a match on action in our project is the gate sequence that we are very proud of.

In hindsight, looking at our finished project compared to our prelim task I can see how much our technique has grown and I am very happy with "The Case". I wouldn't change anything in it as I believe in the end we got all the correct shots and spent a long time editing to make the continuity correct. I am particularly happy about all the visual and audio effects we added. My claim to fame was discovering that by lowering the treble level on clips you could reduce the camera hiss picked up by wind outside. This helped make our sequence a lot more continuous.

I have really enjoyed this project and I think I can safely say I have developed my media skills greatly throughout, aiding the creation of a cracking sequence.