Preliminary Exercise - Evaluation Questions

Preliminary Exercise
1) Who did you work with and how did you manage the tasks between you?
In my group was Ben, Selina, Mel, Daniel and me. We all partook in the planning which worked well, however when it came to the filming we all stuck to our individual jobs. This is so that there was no confusion in changing around after every shot and it also made us quicker and more efficient as a team. I was the production assistant, Selina directed, Mel was the sound technician and Ben and Daniel acted. When it came to the editing Ben was physically doing it however we were all telling him what to do, and what to pout where - so we all had a fair input into how it turned out.

2) How did you plan your sequence? What process did you use?
We tried to keep our idea straightforward right from the start as we knew we had little time. We soon decided it would be a simple conversation between a teacher and a pupil. We then talked about location and realised we needed somewhere quiet where we wouldn’t be bothered by the other classes in the school, consequently we decided on the media block because it would be only our class in there and the other groups would be away filming therefore we wouldn’t be disturbed. When drawing up a story board and we decided that in it there should be a range on shot distances and types so its not just boring MS shot-reverse-shot over and over. Therefore we included BCUs, POV shots and different angles. After this Ben worked on the script, while we worked on the shooting script making sure that we filmed the shots in the most sensible order i.e. shooting all the corridor shots first, all of Ben’s CUs together etc.

3) What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?
To film our sequence we used a cannon HV30 camcorder, a tripod, and a microphone. We also used a white board in the place as a clapper board, to keep use organised and aware of how many takes we'd done and what shot we were up to. To edit it we used Adobe premier pro. The shots were all captured before hand for us. We mostly used the razor tool which allowed us to cut and move the clips we wanted easily.

4) What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?
We had 1 hour to plan, 1 hour to shoot and 1 hour to edit - the a big factor that we need to consider and monitor was time. When planning, we made sure we took into account the brief, as we needed to make sure we fulfilled it as best we could. We knew we had to keep it simple, because of the time limit, but we still wanted it to be interesting and enjoyable to watch. Therefore we used a wide range of shot distance and types - but still tried to keep the flow and smoothness of it all the way through. Additionally we needed to consider the location, because we didn't want people disturbing us, or work in the same room as another group. Therefore we did a location recce, and did a walk through when we were there. When shooting there was also a lot to consider in addition to the time. This is because shots don't always turn out how you imagine them and so we changed the some of the shots, including the master shot, so the camera was in a slightly different position to where we originally planned in the storyboard -to make our piece look better. Also more than one group wanted to use the corridor. Luckily we got to use it first - but when we were filming in the room, the other groups were filming in the corridor, and they were making a lot of noise so we kept having to stop and ask them to be quiet. When editing we decided the best way to do it would be to separate all our different shots first to make it all more organised and clearer, this took longer than we thought, but once it was done it felt more ordered and less of a daunting task. It was very hard to get the match on action right, though I think we managed to in the end. The other thing that was challenging was getting the dialogue to flow still. We didn't just want all of our shots to be over-the-shoulder shots, because we thought it would be boring so we had POV and reaction shot, but this did make our job a bit harder when editing.

5) How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently?
I do think that our sequence was pretty successful and I personally was very happy with how it turned out. We demonstrated that we could successfully complete some of the expected criteria such as match on action, and we did the whole sequence without breaking the 180 degree rule. It is an interesting and original sequence where one character enters a room, walks over to another character and exchanges a few lines of dialogue. Nevertheless our sequence was not perfect. We did not manage to achieve shot-reverse-shot very successfully. We had a lot of footage from different angles, but when editing it together it didn't work. If we were going to do this again we would have Ben's character sitting down when he came into the room. This would mean that both characters would be at the same level, making it far easier to shoot and achieve shot-reverse-shot.

6) What have you learnt from completing the task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?
I definitely learnt a lot from doing this preliminary task. I learnt about sound and how eliminating background noise is so important. Additionally I learnt about directing, and I am glad we faced a few problems in this shoot and it didn't turn out perfectly because I can keep them in mind when shooting our actual sequence, so as not to make these mistakes when it really matters. Additionally as I hadn't used the editing equipment for over a year, I was pleased to be reminded to how it all works. This now means that I can work quicker and more efficiently on editing for our real piece. I will remember the extra knowledge I have gained from this task when making the real thing, as I'm sure it will come in useful, so I am really glad we got the chance to do this.