Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Doing the Preliminary task gave our group an opportunity to explore new camera shots and getting used to the editing software. It was important to get used to this because it was the first time I had used them as I didn’t do Media at GCSE.
Our task in the Preliminary task was to have someone walking into a room and having a conversation, using the shot reverse shot technique. We used over the shoulder shots to film each person when they spoke. It was a group decision to film the conversation between the two characters a couple of times rather than having more than one camera at once. This was because it allowed us to get better angles on the shots as the cameras wouldn’t be in the way of the other one, it also made the clip flow a lot better as the cameras mirrored each other which made it easier to watch. We successful used the technique although there wasn’t a lot of dialogue included.
I learnt the different camera shots which we used in the opening sequence. For example the shot of the feet as someone is walking along, this was used in the preliminary task when the drug dealer was walking through the corridors and was used in the opening sequence as the school boy is walking through the ally. Another example was the matching of the door as someone walks through it; this technique was used in both the preliminary task and our final production.
When it came to the preliminary task we wrote a script for the actors to practice and use although they didn’t completely follow it. There wasn’t a lot of speech in our clip so we mainly focused on creating interesting angles and shots for the camera that we could transfer into our final sequence.
The weaknesses of our preliminary task was the sound, this is because we did separately film the dialogue which meant that when we edited it the audience can’t really hear what is said, on top of that the actor we chose mumbles when he speaks which makes it even harder for the audience to understand what is being said. We made sure this didn’t happen in our final sequence by filming any audio separately, although when we came to edit we removed the audio from the clips and added our own sound effects, this is because there was still a lot of background noise due to the wind.
Because of us filming the preliminary task in school, we didn't take the mis-en-scene into much consideration, although we did make sure our actors were wearing the same thing for every time we went filming for continuity. This contrasts to the thought that went into our final clip, this can be seen through the choice of settings and props we used. We thought hard about the costumes for the main characters which provide connotations to the sorts of people they are and also their role within the clip. For example, the ordinary clothes for the school boy showing that he is a mainstreamer and fits in with everyone else and dark colours for the spy to show mystery.
The essentials for creating a good final piece:
Doing lots of research, looking into different camera shots and editing techniques to make which will give you a wider range and make the video flow better and look more professional.
Organisation, this will ensure that you have all the footage in a safe place to prevent it being lost and also mean that you are on top of the workload and know exactly what you’ve done and still need to do.
Good teamwork, this will lead to the group being more effective as everyone is contributing and will also mean that it is equally shared to avoid more people having to do more work.
Planning, this will help you keep track of time so everything isn’t left until right at the end and will also make you more efficient as you will be able to go out knowing what you need to achieve.
Overall, from the preliminary task I have learned that the final outcome will not be the same as what you first planned due new ideas which improve the clips and you sometimes have to compromise for example the settings may not be available. This happened in our final sequence because at the time we were filming, the ally was busy with people returning home from school which meant we had to keep stopping and starting. Also, throughout the preliminary task I found that it’s important to make sure the audience aren’t aware of all the transitions between shots, this is because if they do, the film doesn’t flow well.
No comments:
Post a Comment