Overview and lookback

This is my final post to look back at the entire task, including all its process' along the way. At first thought, I think that this has been a very beneficial project for me, and I have ,without a doubt, increased my media skills in all areas.


Thinking back, I can see and recognise many things that went well. The best of these include:

• my time keeping, and how well I kept to deadlines.
• our groups communication for co-operational tasks.
• the research I conducted, as well as the initial ideas Prezi I made.
• how well I conducted interviews for our initial idea and first cut.
• our final product.

 Upon reflection, I know there are certain things I would do differently next time. These include:

• practice storyboards beforehand, and view style models for them.
• try and make better use of our "target audience surveys".
• shoot more copies of desired shots, to give a bigger and better range to choose from when editing the piece.
• familiarize myself with multiple areas of presentation formats before evaluating.

Overall, I have very much enjoyed this task and feel it has been smooth yet beneficial for me. As I personally enjoy Thriller films, it made the process all the more enjoyable. I feel I have kept to the task brief well and produced what is required and more. I look forward to anymore future tasks that come, and will hopefully be able to take everything I learnt from this experience into the next one.

Blogger opinion

Having used Blogger for the past 4 to 5 months, I have managed to successfully get used to all its content and techniques for operation. I had slight issues around text appearing in white on my blog, as well image sizes and positioning. However, these were both fairly manageable, and ultimately easy to correct.
Looking back, I feel that it has been relatively easy to manage. Its issues are minimal in relation to its wider purpose, and it therefore serves well for a "blogging" website.

Evaluation reflection

Overall, looking back at the evaluation process I have many thoughts. The questions have been both challenging at times, but straightforward too. The majority of the questions have been fairly easy to answer, and have not required much pondering. However, one issue I did have was trying to keep all of my answers to separate formats.
I did have certain issues surrounding my answer to question 3, on video presentation format "Wideo". The construction of the video itself was relatively easy, and something I enjoyed completing. However, once finished it was a great struggle to place it onto my blog. As a result, I used the screen recorder "Bandicam" and placed the video onto YouTube. Wideo is probably a format I would use again, but it does not suit Blogger.
In conclusion, although the evaluation has been shorter in time than the other sections, it has been difficult to construct answers well into interesting formats.

Evaluation question 7

From the preliminary task to the main task, I have progressed well in many aspects. With the experience of the preliminary task acquired, my general camera and editing skills were dramatically refined. On top of this, the impact that more detailed planning and research before my shooting dates had was very significant for the progression of quality and detail in my product. Looking back at my Preliminary task, I can see multiple errors that occurred throughout.
These included:

• The diegetic sounds specifically in the background of each shot blended poorly, and were noticeable across the piece.(0:04-0:08 in particular)
• As some of the shots start, the actors are off cue, and don't begin acting immediately. This had not been edited out of the piece. (0:16-0:17)
• In the first shot, the main character approaches and reaches the door. However, both the second and third shot show him still approaching the door. This means that the initial shot is too long, and should have been edited shorter. (0:03-0:08)
• The diegetic sound in the background returns for two shots, because the door was left open. (0:12-0:17)
• Lack of titles for the piece, as well as idents. 

When I saw my final piece once again, I noticed several improvements. These included:

• Our transition, selection and choice of titles throughout the piece is a sign of improvement, as they are not only effective in conveying messages, but also the thriller genre.
• the diegetic sound (1:10-1:14) is blended far more smoothly
• by editing shots throughout well, there are no shots of actors waiting before a cue

One key thing I have learnt from the progression to the main task, was the importance of a genre when creating a product. I now understand that, without a genre, the purpose of a product can be very different to both convey to and understand for audiences. Genre in the main task was critical for conventions met in aspects of the product, where as, the preliminary product lacks clarity to the audience without any conventions of a particular genre. 

Overall the skills I have improved on include:

• re-checking editing for sound and shot issues
• Unlike the preliminary task, adding effective titles. I also began adjusting and changing their styles of the titles
• using a more varied selection of shots in our final piece.

Evaluation question 7 format choice

I have decided to put my response to question 7 in the format of a bullet pointed list, reflecting on my preliminary task, how I moved on, and improvements since. This will vary from all my previous formats, and will hopefully be interesting and detailed.

Evaluation question 6

Technology from danlomax

Evaluation question 6 format choice

For question six, I have decided to display my answer in the form of a simple picture and explanation slide share table. This is because I thought it was important to explain the technology I have used simply to make it easier to understand. I did consider a film diary, but I don't have access to the mac we used, and so I figured it would be logical to do a table.
On top of this, I know that it should be fairly easy to do, as I find it straight forward to create slide shares and tables well.