5 things we have learnt

1.    Planning is important

From doing this task we learnt that planning in advance is really important because brainstorming ideas inspired us to create the idea that we finally settled on. Our narrative is a combination of ideas that we further developed to make the story that we are trying to portray flow. We also had to plan the shots that we would take so that when we came to editing we had a variety to choose from; to pick the ones that work best together.

2.    Editing Techniques

In our A2 post-production we have learnt new techniques and skills that we didn’t know about before. An example of this would be when we increased the speed of some of the clips. We didn’t know how to do this at AS level and even though it’s a simple task it contributed so much to our film giving it a more comedic vibe. In comparison to our AS level work we use lots more audio mixing in the editing process to emphasize the action throughout the film. We included voice overs so the dialogue could be hear clearly. It was a difficult task because we had to ensure that the voiceover was in sync with the original dialogue.

3.    Using time efficiently

Throughout filming we discovered the importance of using time efficiently. We had two days to film all of our footage including safety shots just in case anything was out of focus or something was wrong with the audio. The first day of filming we underestimated how long it would take to shoot certain frames so we ran over time and had to continue the rest of the shoots the next day on top of the ones that were already scheduled.

4.    Casting

Once our story had been finalised we needed to find the right people to convey the personalities of the characters. Luckily, our narrative is quite relatable so we had friends who were similar to the roles we needed them to play. Most of them have also done drama for their a-levels as well as outside of school giving us an advantage because we had actors who have had professional training so they could carry out the role.

5.    Marketing and Adverting

We have learnt how to market our product by creating a film poster, a film review and conducting character interviews. By creating a film poster we were able to successfully advertise our product to our target audience. We used other films that were similar to ours as inspiration and guidance so that it followed the codes and conventions of a real media product. We used our audience feedback to help us construct our film review so that the information we put in is in accordance with what people actually think. Our character reviews will help the audience to understand what the characters are like and hopefully make them want to watch our short film.