Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

At the start of the term, I wasn't fully aware as to what I would expect taking media A level. I understood vaguely what we'd be learning throughout the course, but at the same time I was very unfamiliar with certain things such as media terms, the specifics on how to use the camera equipment, using Final Cut Express etc. In media, we learn just how important micro elements are, for instance camerawork, sound, mise-en-scene and editing are, and since one of my A Levels are Film Studies, I was very aware of what certain terms were, (eg mise-en-scene, Todorov's theory) and this helped me a lot. Through filming, using camera equipment, getting accustomed to Final Cut Express, I currently feel a lot more comfortable with doing these certain things, in comparison to at the start of the term when I had very little knowledge of this.

**Life on Mars Exercise**

With our 'Life on Mars' exercise, we were asked to recreate a scene from a television show titled 'Life on Mars'. After been provided with a clip, we had to watch this clip a considerable amount of times in order to record which shot was followed by the next, the mise-en-scene and how long this shot was shown on the screen for. In order to do so we were given a shot list (the same one I used for my film opening), which would eventually be a guide for us to follow while we filmed our recreation of the clip. My group consisted of myself, Lizeth, Georgia and Romina, and Georgia took the role of the protagonist. In order to make sure everyone in the group got the chance to film, we would rotate the camera between the three of us, following the shot list as we filmed Georgia acting. We tried out best to make our recreation as similar as possible to the original, so for example the very first shot was the protagonist laying on the ground with a car (number plate fully visible) behind him, so our group shot this in the school's car park and got Georgia to lay on the ground and pose exactly how the protagonist was. In terms of editing, in our group we would often allow everyone to get the chance to edit, however I didn't feel that I got the full editing experience because I was working alongside three other people, therefore working on my film opening felt completely different because I was alone and all the pressure was on me. 

**Continuity Exercise**

As a group, we were also asked to film a continuity exercise. This meant that we were to film a person walking through a door, and have a conversation with the person inside the room. My group consisted of myself, Lizeth, Georgia and Romina, and Georgia and Romina were to be the actors who would be in the clip (Georgia being a student walking into the room and Romina playing the teacher sitting down, followed by the two having a conversation.) Beforehand we were told the important of the shot reverse shot, the 180 degree rule and match on match action. These were to be used within out continuity exercise. Me and Lizeth were mainly responsible for filming, and I completely enjoyed this task, as I generally feel comfortable behind the camera. However where I didn't feel comfortable was editing by myself, since this was the first time I had ever used Final Cut Express, and I was still learning the ropes. At the start, I definitely found Final Cut Express daunting, considering I had never edited in general! One thing I found specifically difficult was making the piece flow nicely. The hardest part for me was editing the small clip where Georgia enters the door, then the camera has a shot of her hand twisting the handle and then her finally entering the room. I spent incredibly long on this part and got really frustrated because no matter how long I spent on it, it just wouldn't flow smoothly or 'make sense'. However, eventually I soon got the hang of it, and the most rewarding and exciting part was witnessing the result! I felt that I had really accomplished something and was ready to start using Final Cut Express again. 

**Film Opening**

Throughout the process of making my film opening, I have to admit that it was personally the most stressful task that I have had to complete in media A level. Editing on Final Cut and filming seemed incredibly daunting at the beginning, since this was the first time I was working by myself, therefore all the pressure was on me. At the start of this project, I was just bursting with ideas, and I was extremely excited to jump into the task. I had even wished that it would be a short film rather than just a film opening! However throughout the process of filming and editing, I realized that in order to complete this task in the best way possible, organization is one of the most important things needed, which unfortunately, I will admit, I have little to no organization skills. I had to change my plot, characters and locations multiple times, and was faced with many problems during this journey. For instance, choosing my cast proved to be a large dilemma. At the beginning, the idea that I had was that I would have four boys and four girls, (three of the boys and girls would play couples, and the last girl would be the maid, and the remaining boy would play the protagonist, 'Kreviss'.) However I soon discovered that finding boys who were passionate, dedicated and who I can fully rely on was near impossible. Therefore due to this, I had to change my idea of 'couples' to making my cast an all-female feminist group, which ended up working perfectly considering we go to a girls school. These were one of the many problems I had encountered during the film opening process, however all-in-all I can say that in the end I have come out learning so much more than I did at the start of the term. For example, am now so much more confident with editing on Final Cut Express by myself, and I feel a lot more prepared for future tasks we will be set!