Post-Production to the prelim/ what effects it will have on our main task

The first problem we encountered when we was editing the prelim task was that it would not upload to the editing software with sound. As dialog was a key aspect of our prelim we had to overcome this problem. As we tried various computers and the sound still did not work we learnt it was a fault in the software that would not upload the sound from our tape. We overcome this problem by using windows movie maker to edit our prelim. Because we used windows movie maker it made out prelim very ‘jumpy’. It was not as good as other movie editing software’s and had very basic methods of editing. It was also very hard to actually find the exact point of where we would need to cut, for example, when we had to edit eh match on action cut of Taylor opening the door and entering the room it was very hard to find the exact point that we needed to cut it.

Despite this major problem using the editing software we also had to include titles. As other editing software’s offer very high tech options of titles and fonts. Windows movie maker was very basic and made our prelim look un-professional.

We also had a lot of footage of Tom standing behind a door was included for humour but it had ratio be cut out because of the dialog not fitting in. it left to much of a gap between the dialog to be included.

We learned from the prelim task that pans were very hard to shoot. As the tripods were a little bit stiff it was hard to maintain a smooth transaction. We also learned that we should not include zooming in our main task as it is very hard to maintain a steady transaction. This will loose us marks and generally wouldn’t be appropriate in the opening two minutes of a thriller.

As a group we gained feedback from our media studies class and teacher. We wanted feedback from our media studies class and teacher because they will generally know what to expect from a prelim task and what qualities are needed to make it better, and more importantly how we can improve editing for a main task. A key point that was given was not to include a zoom because it is too difficult to get it perfect. We were also informed that dialog needed to very clear so the audience could be fully aware of occurring situations. We have decided as a group that dialog will be kept to a minimum in our main task because the camera does not pick up sound very well. This will give the viewer a sense of in-professionalism and will not meet the marking criteria.

The final prelim task did not match our original idea because we could not film in the rooms that we needed, like the music room and we could not use the props we intended to use which was a guitar and amp. We managed to overcome this problem by using an ipod for a prop which worked just as effective, if not better as it was easy to handle and didn’t make a lot of sound which would interfere with the dialog. Despite the fact we had to edit a lot of Tom out of the prelim because we did not film it correctly. It was not meant to match the dialog but because to much of a gap was left between cuts and dialog. The last fault with our prelim task was that in the very last second you can see a reflection of a kid walking past in the window opposite and eventually half of his body appears just as the prelim ends. It was not a major fault as it was just a prelim task but when we are filming our main task it will important to film more footage than what is needed because of those type of problems that go un noticed until editing.

-Brad Hart