Preliminary Task

The preliminary task was to give us a starter taste to what the production was going to be like, also giving us an introduction to how we were going to familiarise with all the equipment that was essential to use in the production.
Firstly we had to plan out which camera shots we were to use with advice from our media teachers, they recommended us to use these shots as some were very simple and a couple were a little complex; this was to quickly get us into the routine of using the camera equipment and how to make easy shots look professional.
Once we had planned out our shots, we then drew out a quick storyboard for our task. The storyboard was of each shot that would be present within the task with a basic caption of what the name of the shot was and what was going on in the specific shot. Once this process was completed we then had to familiarise with the cameras and not too long after, we got straight into shooting the task.
We used two actors in our preliminary task and the plot was about a patient receiving positive news from their doctor. This plain and simple plot allowed us to film in the key camera shots that we desired to put in within less than a few minutes: Establishing-shots, Close-up, Wide-shot, Long-shot, Match-on-action shot, Shot reverse-shot and over the shoulder-shot all needed to be the key focus of the task.
Once we had recorded this on camera, we had to capture the filming onto the MAC computer and edit using FINAL CUT EXPRESS, as this was the main programme that we were to mostly use throughout the production. This programme allows users to edit, for example we needed to present continuity editing and this programme enabled us to edit in a way so that two separate shots followed onto each other. It was a little difficult to get use to FINAL CUT EXPRESS, as the programme seemed very professional and complex however once we played around with the programme for several minutes and with hints and guidance from our teachers, we were able to put together a short and simple edited clip of our preliminary production. This most definitely helped us with our main production as we already had a taste of the programme and equipment used: Canon XM2 Camera, Tripod and FINAL CUT EXPRESS. These were all the key focuses and elements that made up the whole production, therefore this head start was extremely useful in order for us to produce our main production more faultless, fast and efficient.