AS Prelim Evaluation

AS Prelim

1. Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?
   

   I worked with Serena, Alistair and Ela on this task. We all planned the sequence together, but during the shoot I was mostly directing and Ela was mostly shooting. Alistair and Serena contributed to directing the shots when they were not acting, and some of the shots’ framing was checked by them as well. During editing we were split into two pairs; I edited with Alistair, while Serena and Ela edited their own version.
2. How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you take into account?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   We planned our sequence by first of all getting together and brainstorming ideas over what should happen in the sequence. After we had decided the genre and the story, we made a shot list which outlined the shots which we were going to shoot. We also wrote out a script of what would happen in our sequence, shown to the left. We mostly attempted to include match-on-action shots, but also tried to be mindful of the 30 degree and 180 degree rules.
    
3. What technology did you use to complete the task?
   To complete the task, we used a HFG30 Canon camera which had a directional microphone attached to it to record our sequence. We used headphones while shooting to make sure that the audio was being recorded. We used a clapper board at the beginning of every shot, to mark each shot with its scene and take. When editing, we used Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5.
4. What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?
   When planning, we tried to make sure that we would have match-on-action shots in our sequence, so that we could have a very identifiable continuity technique. While shooting we were sometimes careful of the framing of shots. Also, as we had some extra time we decided to take close ups, in case we needed to use them, this turned out to be a very good idea as they close ups of both characters were used. During editing we tried to carefully edit the shots together, so that it would look as though there were no continuity errors, but this was difficult as we only had a limited number of shots of some scenes, so we had to make do.
5. How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently?
   I think the sequence turned out ok. There were some good parts of our sequence, such as the cut from shot 3 to 4 (0:11) and the last two shots (0:38) which created match on action, the framing of shot 5 was also quite good, however there were many errors. The continuity errors that I have spotted appear firstly at 0:08, the cut between shots 1 and 2, it appears as though Alistair has moved to the left of where he was standing as he was about to knock on the door. Then the 180 degree rule is broken in shot 5, however from shot 7 onwards it stays on that side of the scene. The 30 degree rule is also broken during the cut from shot 6 to shot 7. Other errors aside from the continuity errors included the framing of shot 8, there is a lot of empty space to the right of the actors and their heads look very close together. Also since our master shot was not very good, we were unable to use it. Finally, I don’t think that the sequence properly conveyed that it was meant to be a comedy, as I didn’t find it that funny, perhaps we could have done a simpler joke instead so that we could have quickly and efficiently conveyed the genre.
6. What have you learnt from this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?
   I have learnt a lot from this task. In light of the errors that were in our shots, I think that in future I will make sure that there is a shot list which includes the framing of the shots, so that it is clear to the cameraman what needs to be/ doesn’t need to be included in the shot. I also think that having a master shot would have been useful, as we could have used it to cut away or to show more of the setting. In general, I think this task has taught me to be more careful and more thorough when shooting, so that no errors come up during editing.