Evaluation Question 7

I used camtasia to show the progression of my of my skills from the preliminary task to the full media product. 

Research and Planning
For my prelim, we didn't construct a storyboard. Perhaps this is why the prelim looked less organised than my actual media product, Chasing Shadows - because a story board was created for Chasing Shadows.

Tasnia Khanom's Slidely by Slidely Slideshow



We completed a prezi to pitch our media product, Chasing shadows. 

I didn't have many skills when i made the preliminary film, but only knew the basics such as how to record footage, and edit using final cut pro on simple terms.

As i progressed in media studies, i developed further skills such as developing my knowledge on final cut pro - i was able to edit using more complicated features such as transitions and special affects. 

I also was introduced to creative commons - a website which allows you to download music legally. This made it possible for me to add on music to my media product.

Camera skills

During the preliminary task, I only knew about several shot types and how to record footage from certain angles. However, as I progressed, I learnt how to focus the camera so it isn't blurry and record from different angles and shoot different shots to make my film more visually stimulating.
My knowledge about shot types and camera angles had grown, therefore it enabled me to explore different types of shots while recording my footage. 

Mise en scene 

We didn't have many options in terms of mise en scene for the preliminary task. But in Chasing Shadows, we used various locations to establish were our film is shot. 

 We also had more props such as the mask and a plastic knife for the 'killer' in our film. We also had better costumes for the actors to fit the character profile as opposed to our preliminary task - because for that, we didn't have costumes, nor any props.











Lighting

We changed the lighting throughout our film, Chasing  Shadows. We did this by switching off the lights and blocking out natural light by closing the blacked out curtains in the classroom to add to the 'thrilling' aspect of our film. We wanted to show the passing of time. We used the spotlights in the classroom to highlight our main character Marcus. In our preliminary task, we could not alter lighting, we filmed our footage in natural light only. 

Editing
Obviously, my editing skills had improved since the preliminary task as I had progressed in using Final Cut Pro. I had more footage to work with and my match-cuts flowed simultaneously compared to the flow of the footage in the prelim - which looked amateurish. 
One aspect that stayed the same during both my prelim and final media product was that we followed the 180 degree rule in both tasks. 


Sound
There was absolutely no sound in my prelim, but there was a whole range of sounds in Chasing Shadows. We used different types of music and sound affects to make the film more interesting.

Here is a video of the music we used in Chasing Shadows.

Titles

In Chasing Shadows, we followed the conventions of a title sequence, but the prelim had so titles. 

So, throughout this process I have acquired knowledge about a lot of things and grasped concepts I never thought i'd come across. Concepts such as using digital software such as motion, camtasia and final cut pro.
It has been great working in a team, although there were a few difficult times making decisions and agreeing on certain factors about our films - like which angle to film from and which shot type would look best. I never thought i'd have to be this independent in terms of taking control of my own learning, but this is a good thing - now I know that you have to be independent as well as be able to work in a team in order to achieve the best in life.