Evaluation

What specialism did you choose and why? How are you hoping it
will help to improve your future productions?
I chose to specialise in Camerawork. Often in my previous production I
have felt that my camerawork was sub-par. Often this is because, I
have not been as inventive with the way that I use the camera as I could
have been. This is something that I really wanted to work on as it is
something that could take my productions to the next level in terms of
quality. During the creation of this production I have spent lots of time
looking into different popular camera movements and they have been
used in both newer and older films, by doing this it has helped me to
create a better idea in my head of what shots would work well together
and has made me think about how I could create a much better
sequence of shots to better please the audience. An example that has
really caught my eye during research would be Baby driver, this
because of the way that baby driver moves with the beat, I found it very
satisfying to watch and thought that the film walked you through the
story very smoothly, I feel that I could apply this to a production of my
own. Another example I thought would be good to try and create would
be the one shot process that was used in the 1917, I thought that it was
a very moving and powerful way to present a production, though it
would be hard to do, I think this could be an element that I could use in
a production. There are also things that I have noticed when watching
films that I’m researching, like the way that they frame the subject or
the way they focus them. I could use this to my advantage in my future
productions, thinking more outside the box and spending more time to
plan the way I’m going to film my production.

How effective do you feel your research is? Are there any gaps or
did you complete further research when putting your script
together?

I feel that my research was very effective, I say this as when writing my
script I was able to work my way down my research and everything I
needed was already there, this made it much easier to write my script
as I knew what I was going to have to write and I could simplify what I
wanted say, into a better formed sentence for the audience to
understand. I didn’t, have to complete any other research when I was
writing my script as everything I wanted to say was there, just needed
to for the sentences.

Do you think all your sources were reliable? Which were good and
which were less so?
Not all of my research sources were reliable. This was because I was
trying to find out information about often very old films or, subjects that
weren’t often searched, therefore I was limited to where I could get my
information from. This meant that for some of my research I was left
with using open source sites like wikipedia, this isn’t I deal, as being
open source anyone can add information onto the websites without it
being, necessarily true or valid. Though for more recent subjects that I
was researching, I was tried to focus on more reliable sources such as
newspapers, or learn zones such as SkillShare, which are much more
commonly used and more reliable as you can trust the information they
give, its not open source and is put there by people who are payed to
do so. Overall I think that most of my information was reliable, as the
majority I did manage to take from reliable sources or using quotes from
interview with experts, for example cinematographer Conrad Hall.

Did you complete any primary research and how did it help you in
understanding techniques in greater detail?
I completed Some primary research mainly to help me get into the
mindset of a cinematographer, I felt that when I was going research I
needed to full understand or at least have an idea of what the
cinematographer was thinking, so I filmed a few different shots playing
around without focus and had a go at creating my own dolly zoom but I
lost the footage for that. However this helped me understand how I
could use these techniques for myself in my own productions. This
practice research helped me to further understand why the
cinematographers used these the techniques and why they were so
effective, like for example the, dolly zoom used in Alfred Hitchcock
“vertigo”, the dolly zoom is used to emphasise on Scott’s fear. That is
the point of the camera movement, this is what my primary research
helped me to understand.

What do you feel the strengths of your script are and how could
you further improve it?
I thought that the storyline in my script was chronological, I thought that I
filled the gaps between each significant point in history, For example the
transition from silent movies to sound. And from sound too colour and so
on. This is something that I covered really well. One thing that I thought I
could have improved on was the formality of my script. At times
throughout the script I thought that it was a bit too formal and that there
needed to be more conversation with the audience rather than trying to
shove information down their throats all the time. This would have aided
my script as it would have me to connect with my audience on a more
common level and help them to keep and interest and interact with the
production more than they would already.

What have you learnt from this process and how can you utilise it
in your remaining projects?
I have learnt many things from this project. One of the things that I have
struggled with in the past is writing a narrative script. Throughout this
project o have had to work on and develop my own version of one. I
believe that during this project o have improved this skill massively,
creating an in-depth script that was chronological and transitioned
smoothly between each subject. Another thing that I have been able to
improve on would be my understanding of the movements of a camera.
This involved that a camera movement effected the audience and how I
could link different movements together to to capture the audiences
attention. These are two attributes that will help me to progress my work
and hopefully improve it moving onto other projects. Being able to
understand the way that a camera move and how it effect the audience
is key to creating a good production and a more enticing piece of work
that will grab the audiences attention.