Evaluation Question 7 Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression

from it to the full product? From our preliminary task, The Office, up until our final main task opening sequence, Submerged I feel that myself and my whole group have progressed a great deal and learnt how to be more efficient, creative and how to use the best technologies available to produce the best end product which we were all very happy with and though was the best work we were physically able to produce.

Learning and progression through camera and filming. When we filmed our preliminary material back in November the images in the right hand column, we only filmed once, using the editing equipment on iMovie to crop and change the shots we had into the shots we needed as we did not film enough shots to keep the viewer engaged and maintain the fluidity of the narrative. When we started filming our main task, the images in the left hand column, we learnt from this and progressed by making sure we filmed more shots that would be necessary to make sure that the narrative was clear and the shots we fluid during conversational periods. We made sure our film was engaging and there was a wide variation of shots to keep the viewer engaged and show viewpoints from all characters but be executed so well that the constant changing of shots wasnt overly noticeable. We also felt that the shots thoughout our preliminary task were very static and maybe could have involved more camera movement to have convey the tension between the two characters. Therefore when we started filming our main task we we more creative with our filming shots and movement as we attemped tracking shots by putting a rollerblade on the end of the tripod. Unfortunately the ground was not smooth enough for the footage to be of an equal quality however we learnt that it is good to be more creative and include a wider variety of shots.

Learning and progression through editing. We edited our preliminary task on iMovie, effectively sound bridging and using visual effects such as smoothing clips to produce the best footage and short film that we could. However we edited our main task, our opening title sequence, using Final Cut Express helping us to progress to a higher standard of editing and as a result of this a higher quality opening title sequence.

We were able to use transitions such as fade to white and dip to colour which enabled us to convey to the viewer that the footage was entering a flashback phase. Learning and progression through sound. Our preliminary film did not have any background non-diegetic sound, any non-diegetic or diegetic sound effects or many voiceovers as we found it very hard to find a fitting soundtrack, and layer this with voiceovers and naturalistic sound on the editing equipment and software provided by iMovie. This created scenes with white noise and scenes without causing a lack of sound continuity. We have learnt and progressed from our preliminary material through changing our editing software to Final Cut Express and creating our own soundtrack, layering our own naturalistic recorded sound and voiceovers together using Audacity and Garage Band computer software. Final Cut Express allowed us to control the sound, pitch, speed and amplification of all 3 layers of sound much more effectively and precisely than iMovie helping us learn and progress how to layer and create aesthetically pleasing sound where one sound layer did not overpower another than was just as important to the overall sound.

We created our voiceovers through the use of the computer software garage band and exporting our voiceovers to iTunes making our voice overs look more precise and professional as we could more accuartely match the movements on screen.

Finally we created our own soundtrack through the computer software for music processing, audacity. We chose to use audacity over Garage Band as we felt that we could more precisely and accurately control the pitch, fade, volume, speed and melody of our soundtrack and effectively build tension throughout our opening title sequence helping it to conform and adhere more to the horror genre. We learnt from our preliminary to create our own original music so that it married well with our opening sequence and empahsised the scenes we wanted it to and building tension in the places we wanted to as well as creating a false sense of security at times.