JP: How have I improved my filming skills? What difficulties have I come across?

• I have learnt how to effectively use the tripod during shots for completely static shots, pans, tilting shots, etc.
• I have learnt how to carry out several of the camera angles and techniques i have studied through watching film openings and analysing them, e.g. over-the-shoulder, low angle, tracking shot, close-up, etc.
• I have been inspired by some of the film openings i have studied and we have used some good techniques in our preliminary task.
• Whilst filming, the main difficulty we came across was lack of continuity during shots, but as we progressed in our filming we learnt to tackle the problem, and all continuity errors were removed perfectly in post-production.
• We also had difficulties with changes in weather over the two days, finding suitable sound effects, and staying in the perfect position for effective continuity, however as we got used to handling the equipment and using it correctly, all of the problems were tackled and the weather changed back to what it was like in the first shots.

Progress Evaluation

• We have filmed all necessary shots for our preliminary task, totaling to approximately two minutes of footage, suitable for a short video.
• We have used Adobe Premier Elements 9.0 for post-production, cutting any unnecessary footage out and making sure continuity was consistent and there were no errors. 
• We also used Premier Elements to edit the sound in our clip, as much of it was out of synch, but we edited it well and made the sound as smooth and consistent as we could.
• We also added some sound effects of an eagle and a lion's roar using Elements.