Research and Planning 50 blogs Check list

I made this check list for my group so that they had an idea of what they could post about. 

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Quality of holding a shot steady

Apart from using a tripod for certain shots, I think holding a shot steady by hand was not too difficult. However, there was subtle camera shake. To improve this, we could place the camera on the tripod then hold it to shoot the scene. 

Quality of  the framing of shots

In my opinion, I think this went well because we had an expansive variety of shots that showed the viewers many different angles of the setting and the characters. 

Harry (Person A)

Eddy (Person B)

For example it opened with an establishing shot of a building, and then it cut to a tracking shot of footsteps. It went well because you can clearly identify what is going on within the frame. Another example of what went well would be the shot where the viewer saw the Manz Yard sign in the centre of the frame. It well placed and the audience can focus only on the sign. This helped dictate what room Harry was going to enter. Furthermore, in relation to the positioning of frame, the rule of thirds worked well during the dialogue scenes. Although it was reversed, it gave it an edgy look. 

We could improve the shot where Eddy is sitting down with his feet up on the table by focusing on his face instead of his shoes. This will help ensure where the viewer will focus on. This was difficult to shoot because the camera had to look up whilst being very close to the table. Even though it was on auto focus, it kept on focusing on his shoes. Also after Eddy says "Take a seat" Harry accidentally hits the table which then made the camera shake. To improve this, we should've re-shot it so that the camera isn't affected. 

The last shot also needs improving because the pan up was too slow. 

Quality of mise-en-scene

This went well because our group had many different talents that could be put to good use. After following the detailed storyboards drawn by Connie, we asked her to draw the 'Manz Yard' sign. 

When Harry walks in from the right of the frame to get to the door, the lighting was good because you could clearly see the action, and it was also not too dark. 

In the shot below, I used the telephoto lens to give the background a shallow focus so that the viewer could focus on the character. In this scene, Harry says "Sorry I'm late fam... traffic init." As we had limited lighting equipment, we had to stick to natural light. Although the light that's coming in from the right adds shadow to the left side of his face, it looks a little flat. To improve, we could've added back lighting so that we can see the outline of his head and body. 

In my opinion, the lighting in the last frame could also be improved because it was too bright. To improve we could've closed the blinds a little, so that it only allowed some light to hit Eddy's face from the left side of the frame.

Quality of editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer 

This part went well because after the 'Manz Yard' shot was shown, we cut to the next frame which was taken from the right side of the action. After he enters the frame from the right, it shows the audience that he is about to knock on the door. The next frame was a motivated edit because it was a mid-shot which showed the audience a closer knocking action. It went well because he was still placed on the right of the frame and this shows good quality positioning and movement. 

The next frame went well because as you can see, the character is still on the right side of the frame. In addition, before and after he enters the room the audience may witness a good match on action edit. In my opinion, I like how the transition form the over the shoulder shot and the reverse angle shot of Harry's character because it looked smooth and it was a clean cut that was timed perfectly. However, as the dialogue begins, Eddy's character is placed on the right when Harry's character should've been. To improve this, we should've filmed Eddy on the left to show that he is an addition to the story. 

When Harry’s character said “Yes, don’t worry I’ve taken care of it” we made it a mid-shot with him being on the left side. After a slight pause (helped cut dialogue), the transition to the next frame was a close up of him saying “So what do you want me to do next?” went well as it gave more significance. For this shot, I used a telephoto lens to focus on his character and not the background. Overall, this showed good continuity. 

The first shot was a pan of the building, however this was too slow. To shorten the amount of time it was on screen, we decided to speed it up; however, because the basketball players (who should have not been there) made it look distracting for the viewer. To improve this we could have panned it quicker.

When Harry was using the camera to take a tracking shot of his feet, he was walking too slow, making it match the calming violin music which was supposed to contrast his action. To improve he could’ve walked faster to show the audience that he’s late. When he pans up to show the staircase, it there was a lot of camera shake that wasn’t needed. What needed improving was editing from a moving shot to a static shot. In addition, the next shot where the camera follows him up the stairs needs improving. It was hard to film and it seemed too long, making it boring for the audience to watch.

Quality of using sound with images and editing 

This went well because we used classical music on top of the images to contrast with the genre we tried to follow which was comedy. In addition although Harry’s character was rushing the calming violin played in the background also contrasts. 

Before Harry’s character walks into the room we hear Eddy talking whilst Harry was acting. To improve this we should make sure that there is complete silence during the filming session.

At the beginning of the dialogue, we hear a fan noise in the background but after realizing that it was on we turned it off. For the next couple of shots you can’t hear it but when we came to edit, we needed to have that fan on so that we had that background noise. To improve this we could film just the background noise and use that audio, so that when we come to edit, it’ll be playing throughout the dialogue. This will help set the scene for the audience.  

Overall, the quality of group planning, meeting targets, and organisation went well because we were already given a script that we were told to follow. However, when we came to storyboarding it, we added a few shots. After having Connie, draw them, it was easy to follow as we knew how to frame the shot. When we got to filming it, we all worked well together because we got it done quickly, and we didn’t mess about. When it came to framing, we also asked each other if it looked good when we played it back and if the actor were asked to do it again, there was no hassle.

Preliminary Task

For this task we we were given a list of what we needed to film and edit it on film cut pro. This task was called 'The Fish.' In order to understand what we needed to shoot and how to shoot it, we made storyboards. 

By following these storyboards, we started filming it all. Here is what we came up with. 

Preliminary Task Ver.1

This next video is an improved version of our first attempt at editing. For this, we re-evaluated the audio to make it sound more natural and we did this by adding ambience sound.  

Preliminary Task Ver.2

Analysing film sequences

Heathers (1998)

Opens with a distribution company (New Wold Pictures)
Non-degetic music is being played during this. You get the distribution and production company title. With a black background, the actor's name comes up. 

The film starts with an extreme close up full of connotations. For example, her hair colour is blonde and the colour red fills the frame. The director uses a shallow focus so that the audience is focused on the action. There is also a semi-slow motion on her movement. This suggests that she's taking her time and she's comfortable. During this the main title appears over the action. The slow dissolve moves on to show an establishing shot. The mise-en-scene within this shot sets the scene. Each girl is wearing a different colour from the other. The next shot slowly tracks around but it remains as an establishing shot. Although the music is slow paced and the scene is very feminine, it signifies that maybe they're good girls. However, as the girls get up and cuts into a close up shot on their shoes and where they're stepping on, as the audience we find that they're not nice girls. They tread on the flowers an this signifies that they're not good girls; the audience are given the first impression that they are bitchy. These actions are contrasting each other which shows the audience their true personalities. 

The long tracking shot is used to carry titles and establish the setting. The close up on the croquet balls show the colour coding. They walk in unison showing the audience that although they wear different colours they are the same. The titles are still playing but they are in between the dialogue. 

By looking at different film sequences, we can gather a variety of different codes and conventions for that genre and use it to create a plot idea for our final piece.