One of the major differences that I experienced while constructing the full product was that I had not spent much time at all on researching thetopicand the task itself during the preliminary task. When it came to producing the full product I did a much larger amount of research into the horror genre, the subgenres and even examples of the genre. I decided to spend a lot of time researching because I knew that it was key to making a professional looking product. The research gave me more knowledge on the subject of which I was working with, and therefore I knew about the codes and conventions of the genre. So whilst I was filming and editing I could create the product around the codes and conventions and use the sound, mise en scene, camera angles and movementmicro elements to my advantage. With a better use of the micro elements and codes and conventions of the genre I was able to create a more unique and understandable product when compared to the preliminary task which has a lack of tone and meaning.

Above is a direct comparison of my preliminary task (on the left) and my final product (on the right). In my final product I used more complex and interesting camera shots. On the right Ive used a Dutch tilt shot, which connotes chaos and confusion. They are commonly used throughout the genre. This is an example of my increased knowledge in the genre and camera work.

When it came to the final product I decided to have a rough cut first so that I could have more time to evaluate and analyse what I had created and what parts were good and what needed improving. Without a rough cut during the preliminary task I was unable to receive any comments or reviews from my teacher for me to actually act upon. With my film opening, by having a rough cut I was able to show my teacher and a selection of people from my primary target audience the video and gain comments on things that needed improving which I then I acted upon for my final copy. For instance my teacher suggested that I should edit my titles so that they would fit into the sub-genre of supernatural horror better. I was also advised to include more non-diegetic audio and fine tune the existing sound effects. I took these comments as a priority and improved my opening based on the comments right away.

Another advantage I learnt while constructing my final product was to use my time more efficiently. While planning for the preliminary task my group and me created a shot list, storyboard and a basic script within a day before filming. We rushed to get the planning work done so that we could start filming. However this proved to be disadvantageous to us once we came to film because are storyboard wasn't as detailed as it could've and should've been. The script occasionally didn't match up to the action on the storyboard. By attempting to leave more time for the filming we rushed the planning and ended up spending longer filming the preliminary task than we would have if we spent another day on the planning material. When the planning stage rolled around for the final product I had learnt my lesson and so as a group we each took one part of the planning each (I made the storyboard) and spent over three days fine tuning and discussing. This helped us understand what we were going to do once we started filming geo there wouldn't be a repeat of the preliminary task.

My overall editing skills and capabilities have also definitely improved. After the preliminary task was filmed I didn't put too much though into the way I would go about editing it. I only knew the basics of using iMovie and didn't perform any further research into the program. I ended up with an obvious lack of extra features and my video came across as somewhat insubstantial. I was clearly aware of this and that's why I took time to learn about the tools that iMovie offers better.

Above is an example of the crop tool available to use in iMovie. I used it at multiple points during the pre-production process as it allowed me to crop out any unnecessary background objects and to show more detail in a certain scene. Creating a detailed product is something I feel like I failed to do with my preliminary task.

My preliminary video also contains minimal sound effects and they were all diegetic; however the quality was poor and therefore made the video seem unprofessional. I improved my use of sound in my final product by either creating the diegetic sounds myself on location so that they'd feel more realistic or by incorporating relevant and effective non-diegetic sounds and music through the use of iTunes which iMovie is connected to so the process was much easier than I first realised.I realised that simply by using different transitions to cut from one shot to another and by using visual effects the product could become much more professional and lively.