"Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?"
Having completed our two-minute opening sequence, we could see that we had made a number of improvements in our film making skills since our work on the preliminary task last year. It is interesting to see the comparison between the two and understand how we have progressed and learnt from and corrected our mistakes.
The most distinct difference between the two projects was the filming location. Whereas with the preliminary task, where we were limited by time and preparation and so used my colleague's house as primary location, with our final opening we had a wider canvas of locations to explore and therefore a duty to fulfill the expectations, of others and of ourselves. We did this shooting the opening in one of the most iconic cities in the world - London - heavily featuring Trafalgar Square and the London Underground, both shown in the 2012 blockbuster "Skyfall". We felt that the recognisability of the location would add to the production value of the opening as well as being a more interesting locale than simply using a house or local area.
The acting and plot line of the preliminary task paled in comparison with our final opening. The preliminary task was solely conceived on the day, during the shooting of the film, resulting in minimal dialogue as we had little time to come up with anything. The result of a polished screenplay, that our actors could use to rehearse their lines, was greater performances among our actors and a general greater sense of production value. With the opening we have an almost complete storyline as an extension of the events of the opening, the preliminary existed as a stand-alone project.
The most distinct difference between the two projects was the filming location. Whereas with the preliminary task, where we were limited by time and preparation and so used my colleague's house as primary location, with our final opening we had a wider canvas of locations to explore and therefore a duty to fulfill the expectations, of others and of ourselves. We did this shooting the opening in one of the most iconic cities in the world - London - heavily featuring Trafalgar Square and the London Underground, both shown in the 2012 blockbuster "Skyfall". We felt that the recognisability of the location would add to the production value of the opening as well as being a more interesting locale than simply using a house or local area.
The acting and plot line of the preliminary task paled in comparison with our final opening. The preliminary task was solely conceived on the day, during the shooting of the film, resulting in minimal dialogue as we had little time to come up with anything. The result of a polished screenplay, that our actors could use to rehearse their lines, was greater performances among our actors and a general greater sense of production value. With the opening we have an almost complete storyline as an extension of the events of the opening, the preliminary existed as a stand-alone project.
Another comparison was the quality of the visuals: we shot the preliminary in a standard definition resolution, whereas our final opening piece was recorded in 1080p at a higher frame rate, resulting in a more aesthetically appealing look Due to the extended planning on the opening we spent more time thinking about the framing of shots, as well as other aspects of cinematography, for instance lighting and exposure which proved a slight problem in our preliminary task. The latter aspect was difficult to fix as we were filming in a public location without access to artificial lighting: therefore we relied heavily on the weather and configured settings on our digital camcorder to improve the appearance of the shots.
Something we also took into greater consideration was the colour of the film. We struggled with making the color correction and grading in our preliminary task look cinematic, but this was something we overcame with our final opening. We achieved a distinctive look through adjusting the colours towards the green and blue hues, which we felt complimented the location of Trafalgar Square as well as allowing the film to look interesting, with a vignette overlayed to add a sense of darkness. In contrast to the preliminary task, the final opening had a colder and more professional look in line with the conventions of the action genre, with some distinct differences that made it something of its own.
While we were certainly proud of the continuity editing techniques that were employed in the preliminary task, notably match-on-action, we adhered to them very well in our final opening, for instance the scene in which Yung destroys his earpiece. While in the preliminary, where our heavy focus on action restricted us from the use of shot-reverse-shot, in the final opening we explored it interestingly, depicting a conversation that was not face to face. In addition, we paid greater respect to the 180 degree rule in the final opening, with the fight scene aided by the location of the wall that meant sure we did not break it.
Overall, we felt our preliminary task was instrumental in the creation of what we feel is a satisfactory opening sequence. Without filming such a thing beforehand, we would not have acquired the skills and understanding that would allow our opening to succeed on various levels.
Something we also took into greater consideration was the colour of the film. We struggled with making the color correction and grading in our preliminary task look cinematic, but this was something we overcame with our final opening. We achieved a distinctive look through adjusting the colours towards the green and blue hues, which we felt complimented the location of Trafalgar Square as well as allowing the film to look interesting, with a vignette overlayed to add a sense of darkness. In contrast to the preliminary task, the final opening had a colder and more professional look in line with the conventions of the action genre, with some distinct differences that made it something of its own.
While we were certainly proud of the continuity editing techniques that were employed in the preliminary task, notably match-on-action, we adhered to them very well in our final opening, for instance the scene in which Yung destroys his earpiece. While in the preliminary, where our heavy focus on action restricted us from the use of shot-reverse-shot, in the final opening we explored it interestingly, depicting a conversation that was not face to face. In addition, we paid greater respect to the 180 degree rule in the final opening, with the fight scene aided by the location of the wall that meant sure we did not break it.
Overall, we felt our preliminary task was instrumental in the creation of what we feel is a satisfactory opening sequence. Without filming such a thing beforehand, we would not have acquired the skills and understanding that would allow our opening to succeed on various levels.