Preliminary Task - Editing and Finished Task

Editing, like both the planning and filming, has gone remarkably well. I had no prior experience with Adobe Premiere Pro but I found it relatively easy to use once I was shown the basics. After experimenting for a while with various transitions and effects, we got down to choosing the best sections from each take and linking them together. It was around this point that we saw that the footage could be changed to black and white, which we decided to use as this made the film seem more stylish and add a dark tone. It also helped solve aesthetic problems such as the exterior door we used being a bright red colour, which otherwise would have looked incongruous. I also discovered that the speed could be slowed down which we decided to use as we both agreed that it added a stylistic effect and made it seem more professional. Vicente managed to source some music in his spare time, which I think sounds great and really adds to the suspenseful, mysterious feel of the clip. Overall, I think that the whole process of the preliminary task has been a useful and rewarding one. It has enabled me to improve my skills in filming and editing and I now feel confident about the thriller task.

Below is the final edit of the Preliminary Task:

Preliminary Task - Filming

Filming went as expected. We focused on the exterior shots first, filming multiple takes in order to make it easier at the editing stage. Working from the storyboard, with Vicente as cameraman and both of us taking the director role, we managed to film quite quickly. Moving onto the interior shots, the decision was made to insert a shot that wasn't on the storyboard, a point-of-view shot of my feet walking as we thought that this would look quite creative. We particularly focused on gaining multiple shots of the opening and closing of the door as we understood that that segment would need to look smooth or it would look amateur and unrealistic. For the conversation, as we had only one camera, I came up with the idea of filming the conversation twice. The first take would focus on Oliver's face, the second take on my face. This allows us to switch easily between the shots when editing whilst the conversation still looking natural. Overall, I think that the filming process has run very smoothly as we have managed to finish in the time limit. I believe that we have a sufficient amount of footage to work with in editing, and as we have four hours for editing, I think that we will be able to complete it without any trouble.

Preliminary Task - Planning

The planning of the preliminary task went well. Initial brainstorming led to some very imaginative and creative ideas, such as a drug deal and two hitmen preparing for a kill. Eventually, due to the constraints of time and resources and the fact that the preliminary task is of relatively minor importance, we settled on a less ambitious idea: two 'agents' meeting for an exchange of a bag. Discussion then moved to location, actors and props. As filming was scheduled to take place in school, somewhere suitable would have to be found. However, there appeared to be a lack of free classrooms for the day of filming. This was not a major problem, as if required, we could use our classroom as it appeared the other groups were filming elsewhere. I volunteered to be one of the actors as I feel comfortable in that kind of role. As Vicente was confident with being the cameraman, we needed another actor. Luckily, Oliver from another group was willing to take the role. In terms of props, we decided that my school bag could be sufficiently used as the bag.
The next step was storyboarding. Vicente volunteered for this role as he is a skilled artist and felt confident doing it. Whilst he was working on that, I created the dialogue for the scene. I kept it fairly simple, opting for a serious tone to match the theme. My main concern is that the dialogue is slightly cliched, but this is not a major concern for the preliminary task.