Evaluation Activity 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you
feel that you have learnt in the progression from it
to the full product?
Camerawork
In comparison to my preliminary task, I used a much wider
variety of shots, angles and camera movements, as I was able
to due to the time limit we was allowed (2 minutes instead of
30 seconds).
During my preliminary task, I used one POV shot, which was
used when Danielle was walking, then for the conversation I
used over the shoulder shots for the entire duration. This
made my sequence very boring and repetitive, as there was no
flow or anything interesting going on at all. I learnt that in
my final production I needed to find a way to keep the
audience interested in what was going on.
However, the preliminary task was important as I was able to
learn from my mistakes. For example, I made a couple of errors
when it came to the 180 degree rule, but since I learnt from
them, in my final production there were no mistakes like this
at all, including things like match on action and the rule of
thirds. In my final production, I ended up with tons if unique
and varying shots that I felt matched the tone of the film, as
well telling the narrative in an interesting way. Shots like
the 180 degree rotation spin and extreme close-ups helped
emphasise certain moments, meaning there was more emotion to
the product, rather than the preliminary which was just one
long, boring conversation.
I also used varied shots such as POVs, extreme wide shots and
medium shots, all of which culminate to tell the narrative in
an interesting way. The fact that this combined, with the use
my angles as well, made my production even more skilled and
professional, as each shot and angle connoted something
different, such as low angles which connote dominance and
stature.
I also got much better at framing shots as well. In my
preliminary some of the shots were too clunky or too wide or
too close, such as the conversation part and the parts where
Danielle is walking. This makes the viewing experience very
weird and unnatural, as you are wondering what was happening
behind the camera at the time, rather than what is actually
happening on screen.
In my final production, the framing changed dramatically. This
was due to the fact that I could concentrate and focus more on
the shots themselves, as I had more time and a smaller and
better camera as well, which makes moving it much simpler.
As you can see from this shot and the preliminary shot, the
framing got much better. This shot shows our character in the
middle of the frame where he can be seen easily by the
audience, whilst the shot with Soraya is awkward and out of
place, as she does not take up the middle of the frame or even
most of it. From the preliminary shot you can easily see that
she is breaking the rule of thirds, whereas the picture above
is a nice, clean, well framed shot.
Editing
In my preliminary task, the editing of it was very awkward and
out of tune. For a thirty second clip the time wasnt used
accordingly, as I edited too much of it which elongated the
whole project. For example, I edited a part where there are
three separate shots of Danielle walking in a ten second time
frame.
This type of lazy editing wastes time and it doesnt help push
along the story either. However, with my final production I
feel like I became a really skilled editor who know when to
make certain shots last and how to order them to create a
cohesive story. I spent two weeks editing my final production
and I feel that it showed, as there are multiple jump cuts
there is cross cutting/parallel editing, there is a montage
and it flows together really well. I just about fit all of it
into a two minute time gap (two minutes exactly) which I am
happy with because I did feel my initial idea was bloated in
the first place.
