Evaluation On Prelim Task

When given the preliminary task, I was extremely eager to begin, we had many great ideas we were all looking forward to start filming, we all decided on dedicated roles to make the process easier and run more efficiently to ensure that everyone had an equal part within the task as this way it will be easier to reflect on what we have all contributed to the task set and also allow us to prepare for the main piece of coursework. Ashleigh was assigned as a small character and would help with any filming timings, telling us when to film and act and how, I was assigned camera woman and had to film the shots effectively and professionally, lastly, Jess was assigned as the main protagonist as she acted from an early age and was keen to be involved, we also thought that her appearance would suit the main character as she has dark hair which contrasts with her skin tone making the character seem more intense, this would also reflect against stereotypes which will be incorporated within our main task of a woman being the most dominance and independent character on screen.

We first began by finding the right setting, for the first shot we needed an empty room with a table and chair, we found a nearby classroom in which we could film in however noise from the corridor and surrounding classes was a small issue as we had to wait until everything had quietened down before filming to ensure there was complete silence to create the mysterious effect we were looking for. When filming we made the simplistic error of filming with the camera portrait instead of landscape on the Ipad and so we had to re-film, however this was not a major issue as we recognised the problem fast and approached it effectively and quickly to make sure we can continue filming as scheduled.

Within the first few shots we included shot reverse shot as this was one of the types of shot we had to include, here, we had a phone, Jess, the phone and back to Jess for a final time before the phone began to ring again, we decided to do this as it would show what the protagonist was waiting for; a phone call. This, we thought, would help build the tension and mystery at the beginning as Jess is shown to be nervous and impatient. In order to make the filming look effective, I used the same angle for the phone (a wide shot) to show what the main focus was and then the same type of shot for Jess also. I used a high angle shot to show the weakness of Jess and how dependant she appears to be at first on the phone, which links with the typical stereotypes of women being unable to be independent, however this soon changes as later on she appears to be powerful by taking matters into her own hands.

We had further issues when filming the dialogue as the microphone was not picking up what Ashleigh had mentioned, we thought that by editing the clip we could increase the volume however the volume is still minimalistic, here, I believe we could improve by re-shooting the clip, however the rest of the dialogue was accurate and went to plan as this scene swiftly links well with the match on action shot of Jess opening the door and running through the corridor to get to her desired parcel. However, the only issue we had with this was timing, as when we opened the door, people continued to come through the corridor, with this in mind, we could have improved the efficiency of filming by using a more appropriate setting to ensure that there weren’t as many retakes.

When editing, we had to ensure that the ringtone from the phone carried out into another shot of her eagerly grabbing it so when using Final Cut Pro we had to cut out some of the video extremely carefully to make sure that it sounded organised and had the ringtone flowing, however, an issue we faced with this shot was that Jess was absent at this time and therefore had to have me grab the phone instead of Jess but due to it being done quickly the improvisation is not that obvious. I believe that my editing skills have improved when putting the final clip together as we had to place things at appropriate timings and crop to allow the flow. Furthermore, to enhance the preliminary task we incorporated sound effects to ensure that the short film was as effective as possible. When the match on action shot was used we used sound effects to relate to other action conventions, for example we used a helicopter sound to suggest drama and secrecy as no one can see it yet they can hear it, as Jess is running it suggests some sort of chase which makes the narrative more entertaining for the audience. 

I believe that the coursework required us to follow the tasks set in order to allow us to practice our camera skills and editing skills, and for some acting skills. I think that it is beneficial due to us now being aware of the surroundings and how well we must plan everything and film everything, I feel that now we have completed the prelim task, we are more prepared for the final opening scene.