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.
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