Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt from the progression from it to the full task?

From the preliminary task we learnt to plan out the shots we needed by using a shot list, and how we were going to do the shots. For example we used many different shots in the preliminary such as shot/reverse shots as well as many close ups. We took the knowledge we learnt about all the different shots from the preliminary and used it on the main task. However we developed our knowledge of camera angles in the main task when we used an establishing shot for the beginning of our main task, along with a few more different shots like long shots and two shots later on in the sequence. The skills we learnt in the preliminary were mainly skills in filming, such as learning about the rule of thirds and the 180 degree rule, which we made sure we used throughout our film. We learnt a lot more however, this was mainly in the editing aspect, where we learnt about the different effects we can put for the filters of the frames along with the different effects we could use in the transitions between shots. This was to create a better feel in the film, and add to the emotion of it. We needed a lot more skills in editing for our main task than in our preliminary as there was a lot more to it, for example we had a voiceover to fit over the film, along with music. There were also a lot more shots to deal with, and we had to make our main task look a lot more professional than the preliminary because that time it wasn't just practice.

We needed to make sure our skills and our technical aspects of the film suited the drama genre that we were going for. We did this with the nostalgic effect in the transitions and the black and white flashbacks. All our shots were meant to give an emotional reaction, so we try as hard as we can to make it seem as melancholy as possible. This was by using a minor key for the non-diegetic music in the background, with a high use of piano and violins. Also we did this by using an emotional-sounding non-diegetic voiceover and the cross-fades. We were also meant to give a slight sense of the main character turning slightly crazy by showing him glimpsing his dead girlfriend alive again in real life, immediately disappearing soon after, to catch that feeling we had to use our skills in filming and editing. For the scene on a road when the main character glimpses his girlfriend, we immediately give an ambiguous effect for the later part of the film by using the cars driving on the road in front of her to make it seem like she was run over. This could show that she might have died in a car accident maybe. This is for the later film to find out. We managed this effect by filming Jess on the road for a few minutes while a large amount of cars drove past in front of her. Soon after we filmed an empty space where Jess would be for a few minutes while more cars drove past. In the editing we picked two cars that looked similar from the side from either shot. We then merged the two shots together of these two cars moving in the same direction to give the impression that the main character is just imagining things.

A difference between the preliminary task and the main task was the fact that we had a storyboard to work from, we also had to be more innovative and use skills in creativity to create a good idea for the main task, once we decided on the drama genre we decided to research the conventions of drama on the internet, for example we looked at a few openings for dramas and realized from films like "The Shawshank Redemption" that voiceovers were good ideas for them. Also putting too much action in them was decided as a bad idea so we came to the decision of making it of a calm nature. Also flashbacks were decided as a good idea, especially with the idea we had of the main character reminiscing over a dead girlfriend.

Altogether there was a lot more to the main task than there was to the preliminary, there were more shots, for example matched cuts, establishing shots, long shots, a lot more close ups. There was also more to the editing, for example with the effects we used, along with the different filters we used in the flashbacks than with the shots in present tense. The sound is also another large difference as this time we used original music, created by us. Along with the voiceover too, which we never used in the preliminary task. The only sound we used in the preliminary task was the sound we used from a recording of members of our group playing the piano. It fortunately worked well, however not as well in our opinion as the music for our main task.