Evaluation Question 7: Looking back at your Preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Looking back at the beginning of the course to the end result, I strongly feel that my skills and knowledge has developed hugely in a variety of different ways. At the very start of the course, my group and I carried out a  Preliminary task. During the production and editing stages we believed we conducted the task to a high standard. However, looking back at the task now and reflecting on what was conducted, the Preliminary task wasn't as high quality as we once thought.

Firstly the camerawork of my Preliminary task as very basic and lacked in creativity. The ideology around the task was to clearly present and practise the 180 rule and reverse shot, which was successfully done. However the task lacked in creativity with the angle and shots used to represents the shots. For example, one scene in the preliminary task, a long shot was used to denote a person walking towards the camera, the wide space around the figure draws the demographics attention away from the character as the rule of thirds hasn't been followed resulting in the focus point of the scene not being decoded by the target audience. Comparing my preliminary task to my final or full product, the creativity within the camerawork dramatically advanced. Each scene within my production was filmed in a creative angle or shot which connoted different polysemic views that we wanted the target audience to decode. For example; this a depth of field extreme close up shot of a bloody teddy bear. Not only has the depth of field shot add a creative effect on the production as a whole, it also creates enigma in which the audience must solve by continuing to watch the production, this links to Barthe's theory of the Enigma Code.

Props are used to make the narrative come alive, tying in with the mise-en-scene to connote and create a realistic feel and atmosphere. At the beginning of the course, in the preliminary task, one prop was used (the blue folder), however the prop didn't convey the image/representation that I, as the producer, wanted the demographic is decode. The blue folder signified as a document of papers rather than a envelope of money which I intended. Therefore the lack in thought behind the image of props caused for miss-interpretations and enigma (Barthes theory of the Enigma Code) in unwanted situations.  However, in my full product, a prop list was made in advance to ensure we had the supplies needed on the day of filming. Instead of having one prop, my group and I had a range of props from, sharp objects to hundreds of photos. The props were especially made and brought purposely for the production, therefore resulting in having the right props for the audience to decode and encode interpretations.

After organisation skills were developed from the preliminary task to the full product, such as arranging times and spaces for the filming to occur. In the preliminary task, the mise-en-scene and location of the shots hold no sense of enigma connoting the schooling environment, this subverts from the dramatic sense of the narrative taking place. For my preliminary task no arrangements were made for filming, on the day my group and I decided to film in any free location around our school- this represents our lack in understanding media knowledge and the ability to think and use equipment creativity in the space and time provided to us. On the other hand, in my final production, 'Dark Obsessions' we had two separate filming locations for our production, in which we had to arrange certain times for us to film in. This helped us to develop organisation skills and the ability to work independently and find our own space rather than only using what is provided.

Softwares used for both the Preliminary task and the full product changed. Whereas the preliminary task I used a basic format editing software; called Imovie. Imovie is a simplistic software used to edit footage together, the features present are very limited meaning there was a restriction of creativity i could use in my editing process, however no features (such as lighting effects and filters) were used in the editing of my preliminary task, resulting in a very basic almost boring feel to the production. For my final production, opening sequence, i used the software, 'Final cut pro x' to edit my product. I found that instantly the features and functions were as a higher standard then imovie. Learning from my lack of creativity on the editing process with the preliminary task I added filters and effects to different shots for the audience to signify the emotions i was trying to decode. 

To conclude, our preliminary task didn't prove to be as high standard as we once believed, even though we all contributed and tried, our lack of knowledge and inexperience shone through. However, 'Dark Obsessions' our final production, represents our gain in knowledge and creativity through the course, where we used our time, space and equipment provided to our full advantage. Research through the course, after our preliminary task, has developed our skills widely. The variety of different research tasks set up for us allowed us to practise our essay and formal writing skills as well as gain knowledge independently. For example, the title sequence and trailer analysis tasks, opened my mind to different ideas for my genre of production and gave me the ability to understand and connote different conventions used which i could later present in my own production to produce highly professional-looking final piece.