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Preliminary Exercise Evaluation

1) Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?
I worked in a team of 3 with Nico Socratous and Raef Commissar. During the planning, we discussed the brief, created an idea and wrote a script together. Nico wrote a shot list while I drew the storyboard then Raef filled in the technical details on the storyboard. During filming, I took most of the shots since Nico and Raef were acting as the characters in the clip. In the shots where only Nico was acting e.g. where he was walking towards the room, Raef would film and I would hold the boom pole. Similarly, the shots without Raef were filmed by Nico e.g. reaction shot and pen spinning close up shot.

2) How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try to take into account?

We first looked at the brief and started thinking of ideas for the task. The brief was strict in some ways e.g. it had to have two characters, but open to interpretation e.g. the characters did not have a set dialouge. After deciding on our general story, we started writing our script.

 

Our script

Using our script, we drew a storyboard, taking a wide range of shots into consideration in order to create a short clip that draws the audience in. We made sure to make use of continuity theories such as the 180 degrees rule, match on action, shot/reverse shot and others to create narrative flow. A shot list was then typed out so that we could cross off the shots we had taken as we were filming.

A sample of our storyboard

3) What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?

A Canon Legria HV40

• The camera we we used was a Canon Legria HV40 which had a multiangle screen. This allowed us to shoot from unusual angles, such as from the floor, and still be able to see what we were doing. Sometimes we used the playback mode to check if a certain shot had worked well, but we mostly stuck to the shoot mode.
• We could use the tripod to keep the camera at a fixed position. It was easy to adjust the height and angle. It also helped when we wanted do a steady pan shot, as the tripod kept the camera at the same level and pivoted. The camera could then be removed from the tripod is hand held shots, then reattached later.
• With the boom microphone attached to the boom pole we were able to get the microphone closer to the speaker so that the audio would be clearer. Although since there were some shots where only one person was behind the camera (when two people were acting) we had to lean the boom mic on tables or chairs instead of supporting it ourselves.
• The non-linear editing program that we used was called Adobe Premier Pro CS3. It is very user-friendly and we captured and edited our footage easily. It offered many useful features such as the razor tool (to split a clip into several sections, this was convenient when I was editing parts of the conversation), being zooming on the time bar (using this to improve the accuracy of the timing), clips attaching "magnetically" (so that it would automatically connect to the end of another clip when dragged nearby, which saved a lot of time).

A screenshot of Adobe Premiere Pro CS3

 4) What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing? 
Planning

• What settings are available to us at our allocated time?
• Is the lighting in that particular setting suitable? If not, could we alter it?
• Who is most suitable for certain tasks? (e.g. acting, cameraman, director)
• What order should we set-up shots in to improve efficiency? Would it clash with the other group or public activity? (e.g. classes ending)
• Is the story easy to follow?
• Do we have enough time to get all the shots in?

Shooting

• Is the acting consistant?
• Does the shot break any continuity theories?
• Is the shot framed correctly?
• Are there any foreign noises?
• Did that shot go well? Should we retake it?
• Is the boom mic out of shot?

Editing

• Are there any continuity errors? Can it be edited so they are not included or not as noticable?
• Is the shot order smooth so that viewers can follow the change of space easily?
• Do the cut actions match up to each other?
• Are there any audio volume adjustments necessary?

5) How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/ do differently?
Overall, it turned out successful as I had stuck to the brief and created a continuity sequence involving filiming and editing a character opening a door,  crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite a nother character, with whom he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue.

Despite following the brief, there  were still many errors such as his arm being by his side in the first shot, but raised in the second shot that follows it, and unwanted objects being in shot. There is also bit of buzzing background noise. At some point during editing, one of our shots did not capture correctly, so we had to set up the original footage again and recapture that shot.

My favourite shot of the whole sequence would be the photo slide shot because it smoothly and steadily follows the photo across the table. The 180-degree and 30-degree rule was not brokend. We also managed to add a match-on-action shot with the hand slamming on the table, although we had already planned to have a match-on-action shot of his hand opening the door.

6) What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?
I had not edited footage before this task so I was taught the basics of editing at the start of the capturing and editing time we were given and picked it up quickly. I also learnt how to set up a boom mic, boom pole, tripod. The continuity theories such as match on action, shot/reverse shot, 180-degree rule and others, that I have learnt will also become useful later on as it is important to create narrative flow. I now know it is important to shoot many takes of the same shot if you are unsure if it turned out well in order to give yourself more choice during editing, just in case some shots had minor errors. This task taught me many thing and I'll definitely remember what I have learnt and use it during the rest of my foundation coursework.