Group 27: September 2015

Wednesday, 30 September 2015

(Task 2.1) PRELIMINARY- Evaluation

For the preliminary task, we were distributed into groups of four whereby we planned and created our prelim. However, due to the lack of number of students in the class, the group I worked in only had three people in it including myself. All the same, we worked collaboratory.

We were then assigned by the teacher to randomly pick out one location and one prop which we were going to use as building blocks to the prelim. The location that we had chosen was a doctor's waiting room and the prop that we picked was a fifty pound note (unfortunately, this was not real).

After we had got our location and prop, we then as a group had to form a story board for our piece and pick the genre that we wanted it to be in. As a group, we decided that with the prop and location we had, we could pick none other but a comical genre. With that being decided, we then began to show the mis-en-scène (visual theme or telling a story both in visually artful ways through storyboarding) With the help of Elijah's extra bit of work, we had sketches of all the shots that we had learnt and wanted to include in our piece and also a simple caption to each scene. As a whole, the whole of the planning was very efficient and went very well. The group that I was working in was very attentive and co-operated effectively during the discussion stage.

The more creative and practical part of the prelim was done in a three hour lesson which was split into two parts. One half of the lesson was dedicated to filming our actual film and the second half was editing it. At this point, we were welcomed by a new member to the class. This was a perfect as he joined our group to make a set of four.

Before we started to film, we had to pick a place to set our film in. There was a free classroom on the third floor which we thought was fairly fitting to use as a doctor's waiting room. Myself and the new member of the group was behind the camera rotating camera roles at different scenes of the film. At this point, we found that there were a few difficulties with various things. Unfortunately for us, the only free room on the third floor had one set of lights not working, this then made the shot look very dark and hard to focus mainly on the subject. Also, as the room had tables and chairs in it already which we did not want to include in the shot. This led us to use only a section of the room. Sadly, there was not enough space to record certain shots which meant that we recorded particular shots without the tripod. This was not the best thing to do as it was shaky and not clear.

During the editing stage, we found out where many of our weaknesses were. The majority of us struggled on the editing which meant that it slowed things down for us. Luckily for us, we filmed certain shots a couple of times which meant that we had the choice of picking the right one to use. As this was our first time filming, we made a few errors. From the feedback we were given, we were told that some shots had too much room above the actors' heads. We were also informed that we shouldn't zoom in on a close up.

Overall, I believe that we worked well as a team considering all the hiccups we had on the way. We were also able to complete the preliminary task which was the main focus. Nevertheless, if anything could be improved, the location of the place would be important. Next time, we could perhaps pick a location where there is a substantial amount of light where it makes the film look good, also, practice more of the filming. This was a very important thing I learnt as I watched back our clip. As we were rushing towards the end, we did not really take time to focus so much on the filming which meant that things looked very sloppy and poorly filmed. Another thing I would also focus a lot more on is when I use the tripod. This is because the important parts of the film looked shaky as we were not using a tripod. Most of all, I would probably get to know my group a lot more in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. This is vital as it speeds things up if certain roles are assigned to people who can handle it and it makes the film look good also if people know what they are doing.

This preliminary task has helped me to focus more on skills that I am not very good at. Despite all of that, I also think that I was productive during the making of the film and that I showed my more confident side by suggesting roles.

Prelim - evaluation

Tuesday, 29 September 2015

Prelim - Evaluation

Creating a prelim for our coursework was a really helpful and informative task to do. Before we start we had to plan it and create a story board, which later on would help us to be more organized in what we are doing and to know what and when we need to film. After deciding what our scene is going to be like and who will the characters be, we started filming the idea we came up with, which was really good considering the props that we had (a brief case). Me and Abi were behind the camera, but everyone in our group contributed into the decision making about what angles and what shots to use. I think I wasn't really good at filming because I am still learning about the different types of shots. However, I understand the 180 degree rule and we followed to rule throughout the filming. After that, we had to edit our videos and create the final piece of work. We had a really helpful tutorial on how to edit all the files and combine them together. I would say that I was best at editing, knowing when to cut a certain scene and which videos of the same scene would be better to use.

Our complete film doesn't look like its best, mostly because that was our first project and we were not exactly aware of how to make it perfect. I think our filming was good but I would suggest that next time, in order to improve, we should try and film less videos as the editing would then be much more easier. Also, I would use more and different kinds of shots to make it clear that I understand them and their purpose. For the editing part, I think our beginning looks good but our ending could improve a lot since we didn't use our time efficiently and we ran out of time for completing the task. If I was to complete the project again, I would use my time efficiently and have less and better filmed videos, so that we can complete the whole project and decide carefully what shots would be best. For my big production piece I have learnt that storyboarding helps a lot with managing what we need to do and saves time because the whole idea is already decided and organised when we start filming.

Monday, 28 September 2015

Planning-Camera Angles

Camera Angles
Eye-Level

Shows subjects as we would expect to see them in real life.

High Angle

A high angle shows the subject from above, i.e. the camera is angled down towards the subject. This has the effect of diminishing the subject, making them appear less powerful, less significant or even submissive.

Low Angle

This shows the subject from below, giving them the impression of being more powerful or dominant.

Bird's Eye

The scene is shown from directly above, which can be used for dramatic effect or for showing a different spatial perspective.

In drama it can be used to show the positions and motions of different characters and objects, enabling the viewer to see things the characters can't.