Over the course of the year, between the construction of my preliminary task and the construction of my main product, I have learnt a great deal about film-making. I have learnt the different aspects attributed to the research, planning and construction stages of my final product, which will greatly benefit me in the future.
Research
Elements of cinema: Mise-en-scene
During my research stage, I learnt a huge deal about cinema. One of the first things I learnt were the elements that surround cinema, for example, mise-en-scene and its effects. When I completed my preliminary task, I wasn't at all familiar with the term mise-en-scene let alone its significance in film making. During my research stage, I learnt how the different factors that comprise mise-en-scene affect storytelling. For example, the composition of the frame can give the audience a lot of information about characters and their significance or relationships with other objects and characters. Or the costume, makeup and props can allow the audience to infer something about the setting or the characters, for example, their interests or even their state of mind. These are a few of the many aspects mise-en-scene is comprised of. I learnt the huge impact mise-en-scene can have in terms of how much visual information is given to the audience, as well as the impact it creates on the mood. When producing my preliminary task, we didn't think about altering many of the factors of mise-en-scene (mainly because we didn't even know what mise-en-scene was) so the video was rather unrealistic and unconvincing because we didn't know anything about constructing mise-en-scene and therefore creating a realistic scene for the audience to interpret from. Over the process of producing my coursework, I conducted research into mise-en-scene and it's effects, and even practised filming using elements of mise-en-scene to really familiarise myself with the practise.
Elements of cinema: Narrative
Another thing I learnt during my research stage was certain aspects that make up cinema. For example, what a narrative is and the common narrative theories that modern films are rooted from. During my preliminary task, we didn't put much thought into developing the plot creatively and we weren't aware as to what features in a narrative would make our video original, convincing and interesting, so our preliminary task was fairly unoriginal and boring. Over my research stage, I learnt about narratives and narrative theory and therefore I could apply this knowledge to my final piece to create a developed, coherent and interesting plot for my film opening which was far more in-depth and original than my preliminary task.
Conventions of Cinema: Techniques
Another thing I learnt during my research stage was cinematic conventions. These conventions ranged from specific genre conventions to conventional cinematic techniques as well as generic cinematic conventions. When looking at conventional cinematic techniques, I learnt a great deal about techniques such as narration or fourth wall breaks. Although I was familiar with the premise of these terms, I didn't know how to use them effectively. After conducting extensive research into these topics, I quickly learnt when and where to utilise these techniques effectively. They became a technique that I began to actually consider using because I understood their effect on cinema and how they could improve a film. During the construction of our preliminary task, we wouldn't have even considered using these techniques because we didn't really know any effective way to use them without making the project look tacky, so learning these techniques has benefited me because it has widened my creativity and allowed me to consider other ways to tell a story through film other than through a basic narrative - which, in the end, improved my film opening greatly as I was more open minded about using techniques such as narration after researching them.
I also learnt the particular roles and priorities in film-making, which I covered in my diamond nine post. During my preliminary task we didn't really take any of these aspects into account, so learning them during my research stage allowed me to understand the techniques that made a good-quality film opening.
Conventions of Cinema: Genre Conventions
When researching the conventions of cinema, I learnt a great deal about the iconic features that make up specific genres. This allowed me to effectively choose the genre I would create my film in based on which conventions best suited my initial ideas, and therefore could tailor my film, based on these conventions, to both be appropriate for the target audience as well as create the most engaging film opening. During my preliminary task, we hadn't even considered the genre we were creating our video in and how the genre would impact the narrative, features and even the target audience. Learning this before constructing my final media product was outstandingly helpful in allowing me to create an effective opening as I knew which conventions would appeal to which audience based on the typical target audience of the genres I created my film in.
Technical Codes: Camera Shots, Angles and Movement
Another thing I learnt during my research stage between the construction of my preliminary task and the construction of my main product was the effects of technical codes such as camera shots, angles and movement. Although before starting the course I knew that these codes could have a huge impact on the overall aesthetic of a film, I learnt the effects of each shot. For example, each different type of shot, angle or movement can convey information about the characters and so on and can draw the audience's attention towards a significant aspect of a frame. When producing our preliminary task, we had no idea that camera shots and movement could tell a story within itself and convey to the audience a specific piece of information, so learning about the effects of shots, angles and camera movement was key in being able to convey as much key information about my characters, setting and so on as possible during the small amount of time I had to constrict my film opening to.
Planning
After I had completed my research stage, I soon moved onto my planning stage. Something I learnt during my planning stage was organisational skills. During my preliminary task, we hadn't dedicated much time to planning at all as we weren't aware as to how much planning and organisation goes into creating a video product. Because of our lack of planning and organisation, we ended up with an inadequate location to film as it was too small and dimly lit. We also found that we could have dedicated more time to organising and finding better actors as, of course, the actors were amateur and were only acquired in the last minute before filming. Overall, our disorganisation was extremely hindering in our progress to creating a high-quality video. Over my planning stage for my main product, however, I learnt to allocate my time effectively, which meant I wasn't rushing in the last minute to organise actors and locations. I gave myself enough time to form the idea for my film opening and plan locations and acquire props so that I wasn't stressed or in a rush to complete everything before filming dates. I regularly updated my plans which therefore kept me on track of everything before the filming date eventually came around. Having everything planned in advance was extremely beneficial as it allowed me to focus on filming and not worry about any mishaps or problems that might have occurred due to lack of organisation.
Furthermore, allocating enough time to planning allowed me to find the best things for my film. For example, I had plenty of time to find the perfect actors and locations that would therefore improve the overall quality of my film opening. I also had enough time to pay close attention to detail and perfect every aspect of my film opening, whereas during my preliminary task it was more of a case of shoot and make do.
Not only did I learn to allocate my time efficiently, I also developed over organisational skills too. For example, I learnt how to arrange a foolproof schedule and keep all of my actors updated so that we all knew the right times to meet.
Construction
During my construction stage, I learnt a great deal about the physical process of film-making. However, one of the most important things I learnt to do was work independently. Although I had been independent during my planning and research stage and had learnt how to balance my work efficiently given the huge workload I received in contrast to if I had worked in a group, working alone during the construction stage meant that I had to assume and learn all of the roles that film-making entails. For example, during my preliminary task I had worked in a group of four and on set assumed the role of the director while other people took up other roles such as cameraman, editor etc. Because these roles were split, I didn't experience working in another role other than the director. By the time I began constructing my product, I had to quickly learn how to perform in all the other roles such as the cinematographer, actress, editor, dog supervisor/trainer and so on. Learning these roles allowed me to add my own touch in every aspect of my film, which I felt I enjoyed far more than if I had allowed somebody else to perform these roles - I had a far deeper sense of achievement. Another thing I learnt to do during my construction stage was to work with technology. During my preliminary task I was only the director, so I didn't handle the equipment. When constructing my main product, I had to quickly learn to use a filming camera, a microphone and editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro.
When handling the equipment, I had to learn to frame shots effectively. Although I had learnt the potential effects of framing a shot correctly during my research stage, when it came to it during my construction stage I wasn't very practiced in creating a cinematic look that could convey information effectively, so I had to learn this by gaining practice and experience with the camera as I filmed.
Overall
Overall, I learnt a huge deal about film-making in between my preliminary task and main product. When I created my preliminary task at the beginning of the year I had little to no knowledge in cinema and by the construction of my main product I was particularly knowledgeable regarding aspects that make a high quality film as well as the physical roles in film-making.
Plan:
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