Preliminary task evaluation

During the preliminary task I have learned about the many different types of camera angles and shots as well as how to use the tripod to balance the camera and achieve smooth and professional looking tracking shots and pans. During editing I learned about white balance and editing the shots to convey mood suitable to match the action in the shot. I learned that you need to use a variety of shots including long shots, medium shots and close ups. Mostly using medium and long shots with the occasional close up. Shots included two shots and over the shoulder shots (objective point of view shots) during the scene where the two characters meet up. I also learned about effectively editing the shots together to show the full actions in the scene. I practiced the correct way of framing the shot using the rule of thirds. I learned about how important the continuity side of filming is, as when you attempt to begin to edit the footage, if something has changed mid sequence or if you find that you don’t have enough shots etc... The shot looks odd and the shot is effectively ruined. Things that went well include, we had multiple examples of match on action shots such as the opening and passing through of a door where several shots were used to display the action such as a long shot, a couple of medium close ups and an extreme close up. Also examples of shot reverse shots and over the shoulder shots were included in the scene where the characters are conversing over the phone and also at the end where they officially meet up. Things that went wrong include, we did not manage to complete all of the shooting on the same day so the final scene was filmed on a different day when people were wearing different clothing so continuity was affected in that way. Another thing that went slightly wrong was that some of the dialogue is unclear and hard to hear at some points so we had to re-film those sections to solve that problem. To prevent these problems from occurring in the future, I would improve the planning to make sure that all the filming was completed on schedule by selecting time slots to shoot each scene in, so there is time for every scene to be shot. This will help ensure continuity. I will also check that the dialogue comes across well enough on the camera before moving on with the filming. During the editing process, I encountered problems with the Pinnacle studio software where it continued to freeze and crash while I was trying to trim the footage but with a bit of extra time I was able to overcome this problem and the film was not affected. While editing the footage I learned how to appropriately trim the clips and edit them together between the separate locations to create a smoothly running over all video creating the illusion that all the locations are close to each other when in reality they are further apart. I also made changes to the lighting in certain clips to connote a mood that would match the action that was happening in the shot for example the lighting appears slightly higher key in the scene where the two characters meet up as they have achieved what they wanted. A positive aspect of working in groups is that you have more people to help with the filming, so you have somebody to operate the camera, somebody to operate the clapper board and also some actors to star in the film. A negative aspect of working in groups is that there is the potential for disagreement which could jeopardise the overall film. Fortunately this did not happen in our case but should it happen I would find a compromise to meet everyone’s viewpoints and resolve the problem as quickly as possible so we could continue filming and not fall behind schedule. From doing the preliminary task I have learned more about filming the same scene and the same actions several times from different angles to create match on action shots. For example a scene where a character walks through a door we would see the view from both sides of the door as well as a close up on the action on the door handle. This makes the shot more interesting for the viewer and brings them closer to the action. The close up may also focus in on a significant detail about the action, for example they may open the door handle in a strange way or there might be something written on the hand of the character opening the door that has significance to the storyline, the close up would enable the viewer to see this and associate it with the storyline. My role in the making of the film was partly to shoot some of the scenes from behind the camera, assist in composition and operate the clapper, when not filming or operating the clapper board I was also one of the two actors who acted in the meet up sequence of the video. Over all I was pleased with the way that I was able to be part of filming the scenes and then afterwards go and cut all of the scenes together to create the short film. Each transition from scene to scene was relatively smooth and the film flowed nicely due to accurate trimming of the clips and dissolve transitions. This helped the film made sense and was easily understood by the viewer. As a whole, I am fairly pleased with how the production has turned out, I managed to edit all of the scenes effectively so the storyline made sense and was easy for the viewer to follow.