PRELIMINARY TASK AND EVALUATION

After we filmed our preliminary task, we got together as a group and edited our footage on Sony Vegas, we found this difficult to use at first, but then got used to how it works and finished our editing within 2 lessons. The main objective of our preliminary task was to get used to using a camera, using various shots from different angles and to get us used to editing footage in post production. Overall we were pleased with the outcome. After we watched our finished preliminary task, we all agreed as a group that there were certain aspects which will be improved whilst filming our final project. After editing, we got together as a group to discuss possible improvements which would be taken into account for our opening sequence.

The first improvement that will be made for our project will be the camera quality. Amongst our group we decided that we would use a higher quality camera that would give us a higher definition and a better picture in general. We will also want a camera that can pick up sound a little better because we believe that the sound in our preliminary task was a little muffled and wasn’t very understandable. However, our group did use an iPhone so this was expected. To improve this we would use a high quality recording camera as opposed to an iPhone, we would also make sure that the camera had a higher amount of megapixels.

Whist filming we also did not use a tripod and took the handheld camera technique. This generally made the footage look shaky and unprofessional. This is because at the time we did not have a tripod available that would be suitable for an iPhone. This made our preliminary task quite shaky at parts when we wanted the camera to be still. Using the camera handheld also made the camera tilt slightly at parts; this also made the overall preliminary task look unprofessional. For our actual final project we will use a tripod for our camera to make sure that the camera is at the correct angle and is as steady as possible as this will make our project look more professional and slick.

Another improvement that could be made is with the sound within the piece. As the sound has been recorded with the microphone on the iPhone it is all natural sounds and all sounds in the background have been recorded as well. In our preliminary task you can hear the faint sound of people talking in the background, you can also hear the person operating the camera breathing. This is unprofessional and would not be suitable in our final opening sequence. With our final piece of work we may have to mute the sounds in the background and then re-record the sounds that we want in our opening sequence and then edit them in during post production, or we will simply find somewhere quiet when we are filming our opening sequence.

We also found room for improvement in terms of the lighting that is seen when filming. Whilst planning our preliminary task we tried to find a very light area that would allow us maximum light for higher definition. We believed that after we had found a suitable place with lots of windows and light we would not have a problem with definition, however, we found that the maximum light did not provide higher definition. From this, we learnt that we would need a higher definition camera and possibly more light in order to achieve this.

Overall, our group discussion allowed us to find where we had made mistakes and allowed us to find ways in which certain mistakes could be improved to make our opening sequence better. We decided that camera quality and positioning, sound effects and the lighting will have to be improved. Further on in the course we will test out different methods in order to make sure we get it right when it comes to filming the opening sequence. This discussion was very beneficial and we will take these and improve it in order to achieve the best possible outcome for our final opening sequence.

MATCH ON ACTION AND 180º RULE

Whilst we were creating and editing our preliminary task we had to pay special attention to two important aspects of filming, the match on action and the 180º rules. The 180º rule is where the director would create an imaginary straight line down the centre of the scene, one half of the scene is made up for recording and camera work, and the other side is dedicated to the acting part of the scene. This is done by film makers to make sure that audiences do not become confused with seeing the characters from different angles and with different backgrounds. As you can see from the diagram, you should only film from one side as this will prevent confusion as characters will be viewed in different places on the screen.

Match on action refers to the editing of a piece during post-production. This ensures that the clips during filming match up when put together in post-production, if the match on action rule was not paid attention to, then the sequence would not make sense to the audience, it also wouldn’t look very professional. For example, if a character was walking through a door in one shot, and then cut to a different angle of the same action then the audience would be confused and it wouldn’t look very professional. Those working on editing for a film would have to crop the unwanted pieces of film and then piece clips together and try to make the film look as realistic as possible for the viewers. A common example of this would be when a character goes to open a door. There is usually a mid shot of a character walking towards a door and then cut to a close up of the character’s hand on the door handle. This will have been achieved with editors using the match on action rule to make the action smooth-going and easy for the audience to understand.

PRELIMINARY TASK PLAN

As part of the media course, we were required to create a preliminary task, this was a short film created by our group which involved a short 30 second clip with a line of dialogue, various camera angles. We were also required to use the 180º rule, this is where a scene is filmed within a 180º radius and cannot exceed this limit. The aim of this preliminary task was to give the group a practice with a camera and to show the comparison between our preliminary task and our final media product. When we were planning our preliminary task amongst our group we decided to keep it quite simple and under dramatic, this is because we felt that this suited the genre of our opening sequence better than if we did an overdramatic short film. We also chose two actors that would act in our short sequence, this was so that we could keep our short sequence as simple as possible as this would match with the idea of everyday life. We also decided to make it look as though it was an everyday situation. So, after discussion, we decided that we were going to create a short sequence of two girls partaking in everyday life and having an everyday conversation. Whilst we were deciding what dialogue would take place between our characters we tried to brainstorm everyday conversations that would take place between our actors. After we brainstormed ideas for a conversation between our characters we decided on one character asking the other whether they would like to go and do some art work. We decided on this because this is a simple everyday question and we also found that this is a regular topic between our two actors. After we came up with our idea we decided to create a storyboard to try and get a better idea of the camera angles we wanted to involve in the preliminary task, this is shown below. This story board was drawn by two members of our team.

1. The first frame shows the title of our piece and will fade out into the black background and then fade out all together to sghow the second frame.
2. The second shot shows one of our characters (played by Becka) walking towards the door to open it, we decided on this shot as it would show where she is going to and what direction she is taking.
3. The third shot is a mid shot of Becka coming through the door and walking towards the stairs, we decided on the angles because we felt that it is necessary to show that she has walked through the door and is moving towards her destination.
4. The fourth frame will be of Becka sitting down next to Jess on the stairs, this will be a mid shot too. We decided on this shot because we wanted to show Becka’s movement, and we believed that this was the msot suitable shot to use. If we used a close up it would not be clear as to what Becka was actually doing and Jess would not be seen.
5. The fifth shot is of Becka talking to Jess. This shot focusses mainly on Becka as she is the one who is talking and this is the most important part at this moment in the preliminary task.
6.The sixth shot will be similar to the fifth, however this time it will be from an opposite angle, it will also be a mid shot and will focus on Jess’ dialogue.
7. The seventh frame will be of  the two characters getting up from the stairs. This will also be a mid shot so that we can show the whole of the characters’ movements.
8. The last frame will be a high angle shot of the two characters walking away, this will also be a tracking shot so that it is visible as to where the characters are going.

We have also taken pictures of our desired location below. We decided amongst out group to choose this location as there is plenty of light and would allow us to film with the highest definition picture possible. This areas is also a quiet area so would not allow much background noise of people talking etc.