Question 7 - Conclusion

As a whole, I feel that my group and I have definitely improved in our Crime opening project from when looking back at our Preliminary task. We used decent shots, had a good plot, used visual and sound effects very well, and even improved on our acting skills, too.
When comparing the shots in the two projects, in my opinion, we used better looking shots in our Preliminary task than our Crime opening project but had less errors in the CO -

Preliminary

Crime Opening

As you can see in these two pictures, an establishing shot is used to show where the character is in the scene. However, there was a couple of shots that were used in the Preliminary but not in the Crime Opening -

Prelim. Task

Crime Opening

The Preliminary Task featured a close up shot that was similar to the Crime Opening shot above but otherwise, was absent. The Crime Opening shot is, in fact, a medium close-up.
There was a major error in our Preliminary Task which we fortunately avoided in our Crime Opening -

One of the main shots we were meant to incorparate into our projects was the 180-degree rule where, if two characters are sitting opposite to each other, the camera must stay at one side of them at all times. An example of the 180-degree rule is shown in this picture -

 The picture shows that the camera is only allowed to stay in the green axis. If it passes into the red axis (also known as 'crossing' or 'jumping the line'), it may cause some disorientation in the audience as the two characters will look like they have changed positions from where they were sitting. However, we kept this in mind when filming our Crime Opening which showed that we learned from our mistakes in the Preliminary Task and greatly improved the footage.

Both projects used effects (both visual and sound) very well. Both used one or more fade outs to black and/or white, a different colour scheme mixed in with the footage (a murky green colour for Prelim. Task and Black and White for Crime Opening), and a sound effect for each (gunshot in PT and clock ticking for CO) -  black and/or white, a different colour scheme mixed in with the footage (a murky green colour for Prelim. Task and Black and White for Crime Opening), and a sound effect for each (gunshot in PT and clock ticking for CO) -

Prelim. Task (Fade to black)

Crime Opening (Fade to white)

Dialogue was used a lot more frequently in our Crime Opening than our Preliminary Task. While the Crime Opening used more humourous dialogue, the Preliminary Task included more serious words in a small number of lines as shown in the script sections below -

Preliminary Task -

Luke B - "These dreams...they're kinda...reality."
Luke M - "Would you like to tell me about that?"
Luke B - "...Not sure."
Luke M - "Going to keep it between you and me. No one has to know about this. It's just about you and me."


Crime Opening -

Big Arth (Luke M) - "What did he look like?"
Jimmy (Luke B) - "He wore a nice suit...and he was very evil. Oh! And he had a gun, too."
Big Arth - "There's only one guy in the whole of Wrexham that has a nice suit!"
Jimmy - (sarcastically) "Tell me about it."

The lines from the Preliminary Task script was almost the entire script with just one line said before Luke B's line. From there, it just shows Luke B looking at a gun, a fade to black, and a gunshot is heard. The lines from the Crime Opening, on the other hand, were just a small handful. The script was a lot longer and detailed than the Preliminary Task and so had more opportunities for humour.
Overall, I feel that our Crime Opening project was more successful than our Preliminary Task, even though some dramatic edits used in the PT were not used in the CO project. However, the 180 degree rule error in the PT was a hidden blessing as it helped us to improve our performance for the CO project and made sure what we were doing was accurate. We were still able to use some effective looking shots, edits and effects in both and am proud with what my group and I have managed to achieve in a matter of months.