Looking back at your priliminary task(the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learn in the progression from it to full product? - Evaluation Task 7

Shots

This is my preliminary task, I learnt many things from doing this task and fortunately i made my opening title sequence and scene very effective, powerful and interesting.

during the preliminary task we had to include three types of shots, these were shot reverse shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule. I knew what shot reverse shot was from studying and finding them previously in other films. As i had not doing media studies in GCSE I was weary of learning terminology, however once the 180 degree rule and match on action was explain it soon became clear and without them films would not make sense, it makes films etc run smoothly. The knowledge of match on action enabled us to use it in our films, as during the preliminary task we wasn't used to using it when it can to our opening title sequence we was able to use it in such a away it gave us a greater effect, the information broadened our eyes.

Other shots we included in our preliminary task was a long shot of Zoe walking to the door, this gave it suspense as to where she was going. however in our opening title we used a wide range of shots such as panning around the class, this enabled us to shows some generic conventions such as a school setting, and different stereotypical social groups, it helps us to show this all in one shot without drawing it out. we also used an Ariel shot, this helped us to show the generic convention of party's and that stereotype that teenagers party all the time and this is shown in every teen angst film.

overall what we learnt in the preliminary task shot wise help us significantly with our opening title sequence and opening scene.

 If I was to film the opening title sequence again i would perhaps film in Jessie(the main characters house) using a hand held camera in order to show her room to give an insight to the audience what type of person she was straight away. something i would have likes to show was make up, he getting ready and a girly room to show how stereotypical girls are pressured to look good.

Framing

During the preliminary task we didn't think about what was and wasn't included in the shots. however while films our opening title we include particular characters to contrast and to show stereotypical social groups, this allowed all different types of groups in real life to want to see our film. we also concentrate on certain props in order to represent the social groups, we felt this was important so the audience could recognise there groups.

Mise en scene

again mise en scene was not a thing we really planned during our preliminary task. we never thought about what lighting there was, we just used normal lighting, however if I done it again i would dim the lights in order to create the atmosphere we needed. in the opening title sequence we used high keep lighting in the classroom as it was suitable for a classroom and low key lighting for the party to create the atmosphere we needed. costume was never thought or considered, we wore what we had with us. in contrast in the opening title different social groups wore different costume were considered. the chavs wore dark coats or hoodies, I, the main chav Bianca had my feet on the table to how my negative body language towards school and my disrespect towards teachers and school. the geeks wore sensible smart clothing to represent them caring about their appearance and looking smart. the lazy one had a beanie hat on to show that they don't care what they look like. the popular boys and girl wore up to date fashionable which is common in teen angst film. it represents that they have money to spend on designer clothes and care servilely about there appearance, especially care about what people from the opposite sex think of them, this is seen in clueless. We thought about props a little bit in our prelim task, we include a toys dog with i used whilst spinning in the chair which is also seen in James Bond. we also thought about what we needed to make the story complete about make sense, for this we included an red bag for our jewels. In comparison in our opening title sequence and opening scene we thought for a long time about what props were needed needed in order to portray our characters correctly. props we included were the nerds work, revision book and pens, the chavs had tobacco on the table because it is stereotypical for 'chavs' to smoke, and a screwed up bit of paper with a note to represent the bullying for Jessie. in the preliminary task we was assigned a room as there was so many of us, this was out of our hands so we could not expand on our space however I believe we made good use of the room with the space we had. in our opening title sequence and opening scene we used three settings, out side, in a class room and in a drama studio, filming outside allowed our film to become realistic as many teenagers are familiar with the routine of walking to school, this aloud the audience to relate the main character. the classroom also is a familiar setting for teenagers and one in which they feel comfortable in and they know the gender layout and situation. the drama studio was somewhere which was dark and where we could apply different coloured lighting for it to become more party like and realistic,i think the lighting and space enable us to create the party atmosphere we wanted. However due to people not being available we wasn't able to apply different coloured light and there was not effects we could use during editing. If we was to film it again I would try to organise more people to create a stronger vibe and atmosphere.

Mode of Address
During the Preliminary task we did not consider how our characters mode of address would effect our film and atmosphere. Characters during the preliminary task spoke as they would normally. In contrast to this we considered mode of address in our title sequence and opening scene.Jessie played by Courtney spoke casually and normally, this showed realism in our film, on top of this Courtney's mode of address portrayed her character by showing that she wasn't one of the popular girls who speak arrogant and like they have a higher importance than everyone else, which is stereotypical and a generic convention of teen angst.  Nevertheless during her voice over speaking about the popular boys the audience see that whilst she was with the popular girls she picked up some of there traits. 'They all think I'm easy and disgusting but once upon a time they all wanted a piece of me, I mean who wouldnt'. At the start of the voice over we see how she was one of the popular girls, she tells us how it is to be one of them, then as it gets to speaking how her best friend we see she is not like them. 'I've always have a perfect life, great friends, plenty of boyfriends and everyone in the school bowed down to me'.

Editing
We used match on action during our preliminary task, however as we have not used this technique before during the preliminary task we did not not used it too its full extend and effectiveness. Yet due to the knowledge we picked up we used it effectively in our title sequence when Courtney opens the door and you see her walk in from the inside. We used Shot reverse shot during are prelim task however it was not included in the title sequence as we wanted the main focus to be on the main character Jessie, We did not want other characters speaking, unless it would portray Jessie the way we wanted 'Jessies's a dirty little whore', this made the audience feel sorry for Jessie and was the only other given time another character spoke as we wanted the audience to have a connection with Jessie from the bloody beginning. In our Preliminary task we did not use cross cutting, our film however we did, we showed the generic convention of a class room setting and then turned back time to a party scene(another generic convention) when Jessie got pregnant. We chose to do this to show the point in which Jessie's life turned around, this was partly so the audience could see  how it turned around physically not just through speech and so that the audience get an insight at the beginning as to how her life turned around, further more we done this to teach the target audience which would be teenagers between 12-19, this importance of safe sex. In the preliminary task we used the classic fade at the end, in contrast to this during our film we used a heart transition to take us from the classroom setting to the party scene, we chose a heart as it reinforces the aspect of love in our film, this is also a generic convention of teen . we also chose this transition as the last shot is extreme close up of Courtney's face and with the transition her face is in the transition, moreover love is meant/is seen as a happy thing however Courtney's face contradicts this is she looks sad. This is foreboding that there will be heart brake and it has something to do with the party scene.The was no use of titles in our primimiary task asd we did not consider them or think of them to be important. However we had researched teen angst and realised the importance of titles and how they can give hits to the story and better them depending on where they are placed. We used titles for the Baby on board title, CRC Productions, Director and Characters names in order of importance. The text size was bigger for the more important people. People who should be recognize had there own title where as some others had five different titles on the screen at the same time. The font we used was Calibri (Body) as we wanted the titles to be clear and come across as normal and orginal as possible in order to make the film come across as realistic.

Conclusion
I think overall the preliminary task helped us to understand the details that are needed to be put into a film. This enabled us to make our title sequence and opening scene as powerful and effect as possible whilst also creating the amostphere we desired.