What I Have Learnt

After completing the preliminary task of creating a short film I have realised the importance of planning and structuring the work that needs to be done. I have learnt and improved a variety of aspects of my work:

Scripting

As our short film was based upon an unusual theme (a pen) there was very little dialogue and therefore only a short script was required. However, the script we did use was extremely helpful as it was simple, and could be improvised to sound more naturalistic.

Story Boarding

The story board was fairly successful as it allowed us to work together to combine ideas and structure how it would look on during and post production. We realised the storyboard was not final, it could be tweaked, but it provided us with the basis for our short film and allowed us to plan the filming.

Location

Again, because our film was based upon pens, it was not necessary for a lot of attention to be paid to location. The obvious choice was a school, which meant it was fairly simple to film during school hours. We adapted the mise en scene in order to create a more interesting viewing experience, for example scattering colourful pens within the scene etc.

Talent

Talent was not really required for this particular film - we just had to decide on a pen to use and stick with the same pen to avoid continuity issues.

Organisation

This was a major factor in the filming of our preliminary task, and I believe we planned our filming and editing very well so we were able to complete it to a high standard while still meeting the deadline. Because of the time spent scripting and storyboarding, it was then very easy to go on to film as we had a clear idea of what needed to be completed.

Teamwork

For this task, I worked in a pair; this worked well as there was not too many people and therefore too many ideas to consider. We varied who would film throughout the filming process, and the same for editing, so that we could both improve our skills.

Editing

The programme used for editing this short film was iMovie on Apple Macs - I have previous experience of this from GCSE and AS Media studies, therefore it was easier to concentrate on creating a high quality piece of work. All sound was added in postproduction, for example the voice overs for the stop motion section and the music which accompanied it.

Final Product

Overall, I am very pleased with the final product. I particularly like the opening sequence for the credits, and the music matches perfectly. One thing I would have liked to improve is the quality of the picture - however this is unlikely to happen as I was limited to the school cameras. This may be something I consider when creating my final coursework piece.