Prelim task evaluation

I worked with Rebecca Auguste on my prelim task, we worked well together and split the work evenly putting enough pressure on both of us to cope. We used each others strengths for our own good, where I was weak at drawing and visual presentation, Rebecca would make up for it. We organised our time to complete the prelim task on a Monday, we wasn't able to complete it on this day due to the fact that our actors didn't show up, so our reliability of the actors was a issue. We dealt with this problem well by changing the day we original planned on filming to a Wednesday with new actors that were more reliable and completed the acting for us. Our strengths were working together during filming and class but our weaknesses were communicating outside of class due to lack of contact. If I was to re-do my task, I would change my actors because they caused alot of problems.
We planned our sequence using a storyboard, we made a rough copy with dialogue at the bottom of each shot and then went to our teacher for advice. Every bit of advice we was given we used to alter out story board, we ended up cutting shots out and replacing them with shots that were more effective. Changing the position of dialogue and the order of all shots. In the end, our storyboard looked completely different. Even before we did our storyboard, we sat down together and decided what the theme of the story was going to be. We had multiple options, from a proposal to pregnancy. Pregnancy was to cliché therefore we thought staying away from that idea would be a good thing and proposal would be to cheesy and may lose the power of the shots that we could of had.
We used a camera, tripod, external hard drive and editing software to complete the task. Everything mentioned is a necessity, without it we couldn't of completed out task. We obviously used the camera to record record our scene, but there was alot more than just 'recording'. We had to make sure the spirit level was always correct, otherwise the shot would of looked wonky. Also we had to make sure the tape was in correctly, and rewinded back to the beginning of the tape to make sure our shots weren't spread all across the place. The tripod was used to make sure the shot was steady and didn't have any unwanted movements, such as shaking and sudden jerks. I learnt alot about cameras; such as how to set them up, and take them down again. These skills are gonna be very vital if I'm to do well in this course.
Factors we had to take into account when making our prelim task was organising a room for us to record in, we booked our drama room out for Monday after school, but because the actors didn't show up, this caused a problem with where we was going to record. We spoke to the drama teacher again and asked if we could do it again another day, due to her kind nature, she allowed us to use the drama room on the Wednesday instead.
I believe our sequence went well because it was well planned and on the day we spent our time well, we showed the actors what they had to do before we even got the camera set out. This was so they could practice there dialogue and gestures before we started recording. This helped us as we didn't have to keep stopping to tell them what to do next.
I have learnt alot from the prelim task, mainly how effective the rule of thirds are. The rule of thirds make each shot more aesthetically more pleasing therefore drawing people to certain parts of the scene. It also shows the difference between the background and foreground so it helps people understand certain aspects of the scene. I also learnt how to work with someone who I don't normally work with better in a group. We were more vocal and communicated well which helped during the filming of the scene, but because we don't talk outside of media, we struggled doing things outside of lesson. I also learnt how to use a camera well, from the fundamentals to the more complicated parts, before this prelim task I had never touched a video camera.
I learnt basically everything I know about editing our own work from the prelim task. I learnt about cutting and dragging different shots etc. We spent out time well editing, we spent our time in lesson very effectively and got the editing finished before most groups. I believe our strengths was picking each shot effectively and if it didn't look right, we changed it as soon possible. I believe our weakness was communicating during this task, we most did it individually which is a problem as its good to practice working together.