Progression from my Preliminary Task

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

When reflecting upon my Preliminary Task I see how far I have come in developing my camera skills, techniques and editing.

In my Preliminary task I only used one panning shot and the other shots were all static. In my two minute film opening I used a greater amount of moving shots to create a faster pace to certain parts of my piece.

With this shot from my preliminary task I use a panning shot to show Rachael walking all the way around the room. I feel that this shot in comparison with my other reasonably short shots is a little abnormal as it lasts for a fairly long time and created an awkward pause within the piece. If I had tracked her from a variety of different angles and maybe taken a close up of her face as she is walking I may have managed to convey a little more emotion into this piece.

In my two minute film opening I deliberately avoided showing my protagonist's face, however I used a variety of mid-shots and extreme close ups on different parts of her along with the use of voice to introduce her. I feel this is an improvement from the introduction of my characters in my preliminary task as we learn nothing about them or the tone of the situation from them from the filming or editing techniques used.

In my film opening I had a much shorter panning shot following the protagonist's feet. I feel as this shot was far shorter than my tracking shot in my preliminary task it created a much faster pace and was more effective as it would have ensured the audience attention was held. 

In my preliminary task I made the mistake of cutting from a mid-shot to an extreme close-up. This created an uneasy sensation and made the film feel disjoined and prevented it from flowing smoothly. In my two minute film opening I did use extreme close ups but I built up to them by using mid-shots and close-ups beforehand to made the transition more gradual. 

Throughout my filming I was aware that I needed to stick to the 180 degree rule and stay on one side of my character whilst filming at all times. This technique was something which I learned how to incorporate in my Preliminary Task and through practice it became second nature when filming my film opening.