Evaluation - Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

When we made our preliminary task I learnt how to do a range of things for example I have learnt how to do a variety of camera angles and shots like pan, extreme close up, long shot, mid shot, close up etc... Following this, I have been able to incorporate this into making my final product with a range of other different skills. We used Adobe Premiere Elements in order to edit our preliminary task to ensure that everything flowed so that it wouldn't make the audience bored and the film would look professional. After having some practise with the camera and the editing software, I felt much more confident when it came to producing and editing the real thing. Looking back at the preliminary task, we did use a variety of camera shots and angles however when it came to editing it wasn't very professional as we struggled to fit it together due to having to film different scenes on different days and then having to go back and re-film a scene. Furthermore, we also discovered that when we used the dolly to support the camera when we were moving with it, the whole scene was filmed and it was very shaky. There was no way that we could edit this so we had to re-film this scene which then we had some slight continuity issues. Here is the link to my preliminary task...  Link to our preliminary task

However, when it came to filming the final product, we made sure that the shots we used for different purposes during the film did not cause us any difficulties and if they did then we were able to solve them and it did not have an effect on the film in the end. We used a larger range of camera shot and angles and we used specific shots to emphasise the characters feelings on the particular situations that they were put in. For example, when the detective is getting ready in the morning before going to work, we shot this scene using mainly mid shots so that you could see his facial expressions and also some of his body language. By doing this, it is easy to recognise the character as being the detective when he is putting on his suit, trilby hat and coat etc... Another example of using a particular camera shot for a specific scene is when we used a close up when the character opens the envelope from the femme fatal so that it is the envelope that is the main focus of the shot and nothing is going to be in the background which would distract the audience from what they should be looking at. The mistakes that we made when filming the preliminary task, we were able to over come when producing the real thing.

Using a variety of camera shots has helped with us making the final film so that it will entice the audience to carry on watching and hook them into the story line compared to if the whole film was just made using mid shots, it wouldn't focus on the character and you wouldn't be able to see or tell their different expressions or body language.



We took into consideration Mise-En-Scene when we made the film product for example in the preliminary task, we only filmed it inside and outside of the college whereas when we made our film noire, we filmed some in the college and some at someone's house. This would also make the viewer keen to keep on watching because it is a change of scenery and they wouldn't get bored of just seeing the colleges four walls like in our first attempt with the preliminary task. Also, when we made the preliminary task, we used a track that we found on the Adobe Premiere Elements software but when it came to the final product, we made our own soundtrack using the Music Garage on the Apple Mac. We had to add different parts of the song and ensure that it all flowed because it is playing throughout the majority of the film. Moreover, the music had to fit with the genre of the film (film noire) to emphasise the tension that is built up in the film and make it more lifelike to the target audience. Costume was another part of Mise-En-Scene that we took into consideration when creating our final product. As you can see from our preliminary task, both of the characters are just dressed in normal business smart clothing whereas when we filmed our final product we had some characters in it that were dressed in business wear and the detective that was dressed in his uniform. We did this so that it made it easy for the audience to be able to distinguish the detective from the other characters because he is the main character and has the leading role and therefore the main focus. If he was just wearing normal business wear too then it would be hard for the audience to discover who he is and what his purpose is in the film. Consequently, this could also lead to them possibly not enjoying the film if they do not know who is who, what their purposes are and what the whole film is about - it would confuse them and they would not just have the pleasure of watching the film, they would really have to concentrate to think about who is who. This is not ideal for our target audience because it is aimed at the younger generation and they are more likely to become bored more easily than the older generations.


We had to carry out some research before making our final task so that we knew the different codes and conventions of a film noire and then how we would challenge them when it came to producing our film. To do this, we researched a film called the 'Maltese Falcon', an old, stereotypical film noire and the more modern 'Se7en'. This helped us a great deal when we came to produce the film and also the planning the script in the earlier stages.






Se7en film analysis...
http://darcyreid-tam6formmediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/seven-at-start-of-film-summerset-played.html




Here is a link to the script that we used in our film...



http://darcyreid-tam6formmediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/cast-detective-lance-bullock-callum.html


During carrying out the research it gave us a lot of ideas of how we could twist the original stereotype of a film noire and give our a new, younger audience compared to an audience from the older generation as commonly known. Some of the things we came up with included just keeping the film in colour. It is a simple but yet effective way to attract the youngsters because they wouldn't want to be watching an 'old' film so it was best not to change it to black and white and to leave it in colour. We also kept the characters young to attract the correct audience.


Here is some of the research we carried out into film noire's codes and conventions to help us...
http://darcyreid-tam6formmediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/film-noir-in-film-noirs-they-contain.html


http://darcyreid-tam6formmediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/research-into-film-noir.html