Preliminary Task Evaluation

After being set the preliminary task, our group of four came together and brainstormed different ideas about the angle shots, transitions, timing, sound, lighting and action onto a rough copy of paper. Eventually, we put all of our individual ideas together and created a storyboard with pictures of the different angle shots. Each drawing has a description of the sound, lighting, transition and action of that particular scene. This gives us a basic template of what our overall preliminary clip will look like. We each posted a preliminary planning post to our blogs which contain information on who is doing what, the props we will use, locations and a copy of our storyboard. This effectively put everything into perspective and we can get a clear image of what the final thing will be like. We practiced different angle shots such as shot-reverse-shot and over the shoulder, whilst taking it in turns to play the role of the director, cameraman and "actors". As a group we decided to come up with a subject for our two actors to discuss so that they had a rough idea of what to say as they were having a spontaneous conversation. From this, we then practiced spontaneous conversations using different angle shots to see what looked best. From all of our practice shots we then, as a team, decided on which ones looked best and then chose those particular shot angles for our final preliminary task. 

I found the planning very useful as it gave us a rough guideline of what, overall, we would be doing. Having a rough guideline also meant that we could try out and experiment with different ideas and then expand from them to create even better ones. The planning also really helped the conversation between myself and Hamish as it supported what we would be talking about. In previous practice shots we didn't have a plan and found ourselves stuttering, laughing or experiencing long pauses. After making a very simple script, it became useful as we then knew who was speaking and when (although the conversation was still spontaneous).

We originally planned to have the conversation between myself and Hamish. Hamish originally would be a teacher and me being a student having a conversation in the study hall. We then came to the conclusion that this choice of action would be unacceptable as it wouldn't be believable. Also, the background noise would be too loud in the study hall. After discussing and brainstorming more ideas about the location and conversation we decided that it would be more realistic if  me and Hamish were both friends and have a conversation about me wanting to drop media but Hamish reminding me that I have missed the deadline. We also changed the location from the study hall to the media editing suite as it's quiet and has no background noise.

What camera skills have you developed? How confident are you with cameras, and has this confidence changed during the project?

I have learned how to use different angle skills such as low angle shot, high angle shot, worm's eye, bird's eye, tilt shot etc. which has been really helpful for our preliminary task as we can use the basic angles during our two minute clip. After experimenting with the basic camera angles for our project, it made me realize how effective they can be and how much difference they can make the audience perceive the film. Because this had increased my knowledge of positioning the camera in appropriate places, it has made me much more confident when using a camera.

During the preliminary we decided to use low angle tracking shots of Anna (myself) walking down a long corridor and a tracking over the shoulder as I walked, we did this to build up the tension to question 'where is she going?' We also used a close up of when I put my hand onto the door handle to open the door to greaten the suspense. We tried to use as much over the shoulder and shot-reverse-shot action as possible to create a clear and general understanding of the conversation. The confidence whilst using the camera hasn't changed during the project as all of the angles and 180 degree rule worked perfectly which, if anything, has boosted my confidence even more because I now know how compelling the simple shots can be.

What editing skills have you developed? How confident are you with using the editing program?

I have previous experience form making short videos in the past on Windows Movie Maker, the transition and layout is very similar to the new editing software but there is lots more things to choose from. This was useful as we could experiment with different editing styles and transitions. By experimenting with different transitions we could see which ones looked the best. Personally, I preferred the 'fade to black' best because it simply just faded and cut from one scene to another without being too dramatic. 

I am now very confident when using the editing program because I have got to grips with how to use transitions, edit sound and cut certain clips. 

Other comments
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed working with our group because we worked as a team by putting lots of ideas together and we all got along very well. We each decided on what we would finally do because our thoughts on the project were very similar. I am very pleased with our overall project.