AS G321: Reflection - Preliminary Inception

Reflection on Sophie & I’s Preliminary Inception

PRELIMINARY INCEPTION

Our final edited Preliminary Task

Planning

• Describe the planning process and what this involved:

For the planning of our Preliminary Inception Sophie and I made a film treatment which we posted on our blog in October explaining what the different types of camera shots, angles, characters and scenes. We listed each scene (1-8) and discussed what the characters will be doing and what they’ll be saying, this made it easier for us when filming. 

• How did planning benefit you:

Planning certainly helped when filming as we could quickly run through prop placement, shots and lighting using the storyboard we put together. The storyboard was very detailed therefore, the tripod could quickly be put in place without much hesitation. In regards to the dialogue, Sophie & I produced a script for the characters to read from so they knew what they were discussing and what  actions they should carry out. Both of us found that the long-term planning produced a successful final outcome, and we will be spending good time ensuring our plan for our main task is as detailed and thorough. 

Production

• Describe the production process:

When Sophie & I met with our peers in the common room after school, we started to draw out a rough plan which included how we were going to organise the order of scenes meaning, where the camera will move each take. It took us 20 minutes, before we set up the camera and tested different lenses and focus, we then began to film for our first scene. After a few shoots we agreed on the final take we were going to include in our final piece, so we moved on to the next scene. Each scene took around 15 minutes however, if we decided to re-film a shot if we did not agree on it. Overall, we were happy with our production process as we finished in good time and had enough footage to edit in post-production. 

• Did this all go to plan:

The production process successfully went to plan because we spent 20 minutes before filming to plan and discuss with each other what we expected from the final outcome. Our peers were very on board and clearly understood our instructions which was very helpful. Sophie & I also planned to find a black jacket and hat from the drama studio in the school, to make sure the studio was open after school we asked the head of drama if we could borrow the costume. This worked out well as we managed to get what we intended to. 

Technology/Problem Solving

• What new technologies did you encounter in this process? (e.g. camera use, editing software)

During the preliminary inception we used a Canon 500D (DSLR Camera) for the first time. I had never used a DSLR camera before therefore, I was very new to how the buttons worked. To prepare for this I had made a blog post saying what I had learnt in lesson about some of the cameras features. The Camera features I found most difficult to understand was how the depth of field worked and the different sizes of aperture which is used to experiment with lighting. In post production we used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit our footage, at first Sophie & I found it fairly difficult to get used to and understand how the keyboard shortcuts worked. For guidance, we asked our teachers and watched some tutorials where we wrote down a few key notes which will help us further in the post production.

• Reflect on what you’ve learnt throughout this process and what new skills will be beneficial moving forward throughout this course / How did you solve any problems you encountered?

During our post production we came across many difficulties which we had to spend numerous time trying to overcome. Firstly, we encountered a problem with transitions and titles. We attempted to add a title to the first 10 seconds where the actresses were sitting at the round table getting on with work. Each time we tried to drag the title into the timeline it would rebound back into the ‘bin’ where we kept our credits and titles. To overcome this, we went away and watched an Adobe Premiere Pro tutorial on how to embed a title in the edited footage. We took some notes and followed the instructions the tutorial gave us and finally it successfully worked. 

The two shots in which the title appears

Similarly, the credits were not being shown in the timeline which was very frustrating as other footage kept moving when we tried to drag the credits. This was wasted time therefore, we had to get guidance on how to embed it so that we could finally export the footage. Our teacher was very helpful and slowly went through each step carefully to ensure Sophie & I were following along. After the help from our teacher, we attempted to try it ourselves and it luckily worked well; to make the end credits have more of an impact we added the music instrumental from ‘Psycho’ which made the ending a little more creepy. Overall, all the problems we encountered were solved and the final outcome successfully worked. 

Team Work

• How well did you work together as a group?

As it were just Sophie & I working together to produce our Preliminary Inception we found it easier to organise ourselves and converse our ideas. We decided to stay in a pair because we knew it would be a little more difficult in a larger group as each person would need to be working at the same pace before you can move on with the task. When we were both planning we assigned each person to do different roles such as the storyboard, script and treatment. I was assigned for the storyboard and Sophie did the script, which left us both to do the treatment. This was what we used during our filming for guidance: 

The Storyboard I drew for our planning

• Do you feel that you contributed fairly to the overall outcome?

Sophie & I worked hard to ensure we both were putting in as much effort as each other by assigning work to do at home. This was really effective and once we met and gathered all the planning together we felt confident on what we were doing next. We will certainly be taking many aspects of our planning process and incorporating it in our main task such as the team work we put in when filming. To conclude, I am really pleased with the planning & production process we went through to finish the final footage, and I will be including many new skills when beginning our Main Task.