EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7 - Looking back at

your preliminary task what do you feel you

have learnt in the progression from it to
full product?
Cinematography
In comparison to our preliminary task, we used a much
wider variety of shots and angles.
In our preliminary, all of our shots were wide-angle
shots apart from one POV shot, there was poor use of
depth of field and rule of thirds. However, the 180degree rule was not broken. Due to the use of limited
angles and shots, the sequence didnt flow well and made
it look awkward to watch.

This shot from the preliminary (left) shows a poor use of

the rule of thirds as the characters dont take up enough
of the area on the screen compared with a shot from our
actual production (right), showing effective use of the
rule of thirds as the main character in focus takes up at
least one third of the screen.

The screenshot above shows a shot used in our preliminary

task (left), it fails to show empowerment or weakness of
any character, therefore is not an effective shot to use.
However the picture to the right of it is from our actual

production showing an effective use of shot angles, as

the girl is clearly connoted as helpless and victimised,
this is also assisted through the use of mise-en-scene
(props and character positioning).
Why was the preliminary
cinematography?

task

important

in

terms

of

The preliminary task was very important as it acted as a

lesson on what not to do and what to do in the actual
production, for example, it taught us to use a wide
variety of shot angles and types. It also allowed us to
see what a sequence would look like with poor use of
cinematography and why it is important to use a variety
of shots and angles in order to create a narrative, so
that the audience youre presenting it to can connote and
infer their own opinions just through use for angles.
It also taught us how to amend and prevent mistakes such
as poor use of rule of thirds and angles when filming a
sequence and if we didnt perform the preliminary task,
the actual production would have had a higher chance of
having mistakes in it.

Editing
In comparison to the preliminary task, the editing was
performed much better in terms of match on action and
other editing techniques.

In our preliminary, the match on action between scenes

was poor, for example the pictures above show two scenes,
which are in order of cuts. The one on the left shows the
first shot and the one on the right shows the second,
here there was a poor use of editing as the second cut
shows her to be significantly further back that she was
in the first scene, therefore throwing the audience off
and making it difficult to follow.

The two photos above show two scenes one following the
other (left scene first) and from these two scenes we can
see a more effective use of match on action as, before
the cut the audience sees the character slightly behind
the car light and in the second cut he is shown in the
middle of the cars light. If good match on action is
performed throughout the entire sequence it creates a
nice flow for the audience and allows them to easily
follow the sequence
During the preliminary, the 180-degree rule was not
broken at all which was good, and there was a good use of
shot-reverse-shot in some scenes but there was also poor
use of shot-reverse-shot in some scenes as well as shown
below (left shot as bad and right shot as good).

Why was
editing?

the

preliminary

task

important

in

terms

of

The preliminary task was very important in terms of

editing because it gave us a good idea of what shots to
take to perform effective editing techniques such as the
shot-reverse-shot. It also allowed us to get a brief
understanding of how to create a linear narrative on an
editing software of Final Cut Pro X, not only did it do
this but it also allowed us to get a first look at the
editing software that we would be using for our actual
production, this allowed us to learn the basics of how to
import, create a timeline and cut clips together to
create a good flow of match on action.

It also taught us how to amend and or prevent mistakes

that was made in the preliminary production such as the
poor match on action. If the preliminary task was not
performed, the actual production would not have been as
good as it is now, due to the fact that we wouldnt be
able to prevent or even spot mistakes that were made in
the preliminary, therefore it would have resulted in a
lot of editing mistakes.
In our production, shot-reverse-shot was only used in on
scene, and this was from a POV shot of the characters
rather than over the shoulder shot, as it wasnt in a
conversation setting. We also didnt break the 180-degree
rule as we saw other preliminary tasks that did, and
learned from them.
Overall
Overall I feel that I have come a long way in terms of
producing a film from the preliminary task we first
performed, I now have a much better knowledge of how to
use the camera equipment as well as how to edit better
through techniques such as continuity editing and has
taught me how to use softwares such as Final Cut Pro X.
I have learned how to use cinematography to connote
specific meaning to an audience though the use of sound,
cinematography and mise-en-scene such as suspenseful
score music, sound effects, high/low-angles, character
positioning and props.
The
preliminary
task
also
made
the
planning
and
preparation
for
shooting
more
effective
for
our
production as it made me realise how important planning
is to create a good piece and made for a better overall
piece.