Evaluation of Progress from Prelim Task to Main Task

1. Progress in research and planning

Prelim

• We did not have a target audience or genre when filming this 
• We did very little planning and what we did plan took us 5 minutes
• We did write a short script but changed this just before filming
• we first of all did our task wrong so therefore had to redo this 
• we did not relate our techniques to our overall genre/ plan 
• we only did not think of what music to put in or what would suit it 

Final Task 

• We planned a lot for our final task and put a lot of time and effort into it
• We watched many films that related with our genre so therefore could get ideas from this 
• We also saw how  they had specifically targeted an age and genre in the opening 2 minutes 
• We also noticed common techniques for the genre in terms of camera angles, sounds, editing         and mise-en-scene. 
• We also added in a contact sheet to start off with so that we could plan out each scene 
•  This helped us to know exactly what we had to do regarding camera angles, positioning and dialogue 
• We also researched the sort of music we had to include that would go with our genre
• We also researched how much dialogue appear in the opening of a Thrillers 
• Here are some of the films we researched:

Evidence of extensive research

Progress 

•    This helped us focus on specific components that were important  to include in the final task 
•    This helped make our genre easier to identity 
•    This helped us know exactly what we were doing when filming as we had planned and researched many ideas 

Some examples of our research includes :

http://dancingpensblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/example-of-shot-list.html

http://dancingpensblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/researching-target-audience_5.html


2. Progress in storyboarding and scripting

Prelim 



For our prelim task we used 5 minutes  of planning just before we filmed drawing up a script, we didn't even make a storyboard. This meant that we where very disorganised and at times didn't know what to do and sometimes forgot what our lines were, making it harder to edit together than it should have been.

When looking for location we just found the first free room. The location wasn't ideal because we didn't have enough room to place the camera and had to resort to balancing it on a table. It also added nothing to our piece and did not set a context.

Poor choice of location

Final Task

For our final task we made a storyboard and an animatic.
We first put together the storyboard to give us a general overview of the storyline this was changed and drafted many times until we got it perfect.
We then  made an animatic using post-its to depict the first 2 minutes. The initial storyboard helped us with it but we still changed and edited the pictures until we were happy with them. The benefits of using the animatic are that we were able to experiment with camera angles and easily plan what dialogue was going where and where the credits could go while staying within our time limit.

Storyboard

Animatic

Evidence of shot planning

Linking shot choice to effect

 

Progress

• Made filming a much more smooth operation with less glitches.
• Nobody forgot or didn't know their lines because we had been able to rehearse them.
• Locations were all perfect as we had checked them before.

3. Progress in camera work
 

Prelim

• Didn't have enough space to place the camera so had very limited angles.
• Didn't fully know how to use camera and recorded over our work a couple of times.
• Had trouble with tripod causing a couple shots to be slanted.
• Had to finish early because we ran out of battery on the camera because we left it on when not filming.
• Had trouble with our panning shot as we had not practiced it.

Framing here not right for over-the-shoulder shot

Match on action with next shot not right - right arm forward here...

... and back in next shot

Final Task

• Practiced using the camera and tripod resulting in much smoother movements and took out the ones we couldn't do
• Where able to use a wider range of camera angles and movements and ones that would fit in with the movie.

• 

  Here we used a panning shot which we practiced many times resulting in a very smooth action.

We used a tracking shot here which we practised many times because we found it very difficult but thought it would work really well and managed to get a good one on the day down to practice.

Extreme close up good choice to convey aggression

Better framed shot

Interesting angle and good continuity with previous shot

Progress
Progress from prelim to final was that we were much more skilled with the camera which gave us better camera movements and the choice to use different movements that before we couldn't.


4. Progress in editing

Prelim

Very little editing needed - mostly shot / reverse shot and some matches on action, because that was what was specified in the task. We did our best with this but were held back by the quality of our filming and the lack of context of our task - we didn't know what we wanted the piece to mean so could only focus on continuity editing rather than anything more imaginative.

Final

Much more creative and imaginative editing beyond continuity:

Desaturated to create effect of flashback and echo added to sound

Stop motion used to create ident

Fade to black to show ellipsis

Use of Live Type to create effective title

We added sound beneath close ups of Shauna to show where her mind is

Cross-dissolve to show transition of mood and location

As you can see, our editing is vastly improved as we are now thinking of it as a way of creating meaning for our audience rather than just putting scenes on a timeline and cutting them together.