Evaluating Preliminary Exercise

During the lesson on 16/10/09 we watched every groups Preliminary Task and evaluated it by taking notes on what they did well and what they could improve on so that they do not make the same mistakes when they film their film opening.

Each group managed to successfully include the shot reverse shot, 180 degree angle rule and match on action. However, some groups had problems showing continuity through the use of body movement.

During the feedback, my group were told that we included a smooth pan shot follow which was due to the good use of the tripod. Also after the pan shot follow the directors zoomed in on Sophie which was also smooth and so was effective.However, we were told that at the point where I interrupt Sophie during her phone conversation it was too sharp and it was cut in too early(although this was our intention the audience did not agree).

Therfore, I found this lesson important and helpful because it allows the video to be seen from another perspective and allows other people other than the creaters of the video to see it and judge it to see what we can improve on. This enables us to take note of what other people said and consider it when filming our film opening so that we do not make the same mistake.

Preliminary Film

This is our complete Preliminary Exercise. We imported the raw footage on the DV tape onto the macs and began editting using imovie. I thought this was going to be rather difficult but suprisingly we managed to complete it within around half an hour which we were very happy about.

Whilst filming we had to film the task several times from different angles so that we were able to include different shots. So, during the editting process we used different parts from each shot and merged them together to produce a complete video consisting of the different angled shots.

This was rather tricky as at times during a few shots we were corpsing! Therefore, we had to delete the unwanted parts and replace them using the same footage from another shot. This is why it is so important to film more rather than less footage and so that it is easier to edit afterwards. We kept previewing our clips to ensure that it runs smoothly and looks like one whole shot rather than several different ones.

During my first experience of editting my own footage I learnt a few things that will help me when filming my opening two minute film. One of which that we certainly need to film more footage rather than less so that we do not have problems when editting and finding mistakes then realising that we only filmed that part once. Also, that during edditing the idea of continuity is extremely important because if it is no portrayed correctly as real life time then the video looses the idea of realism.

Preliminary task script

(Neelam is sitting on a chair at a table waiting for Sophie to arrive and Sophie walks into the room sits in the opposite chair at the same table and put her feet up on the table and begins to text on her mobile phone).

Neelam:Hello Sophie.

Sophie:Alright miss?

Neelam:Yeah, how are you today?

Sophie:Yeah, alright.

Neelam:Well, we are here to discuss your grades , I'm afraid that you are currently failing in all your subjects and if you continue to go on like this then you will not be able to continue and study for A2 level.

Sophie:Yeah and..? Whatever I don't care.

Neelam:This is not the attitude to take you...

(Sophie's mobile phone rings and she answers).

Sophie:Hey Ricky, you alright? Yeah, that party was wicked last night innit!

Neelam:Excuse me..

Sophie:Umm..don't you know it's rude to interrupt.

Preliminary Task-Lesson 2

My group finally managed to film our exercise today and as well as the over the shoulder, two and long shots we also included a pan shot follow shot following the long shot and a point of view shot of the mobile phone ringing. The whole task went reasonably well after overcoming the laughter and incorrect dialogue.

Following my group groups 3 4 and 5 managed to film their exercises completely. Group 3 sang the opening theme tune words to Spongebob Squarepants which was rather amusing and took a while to complete because the class were laughing. Group 4 had a general everyday conversation between two friends and had a touch of drama to it which was different and enjoyable to watch.Lastly, group 5 were having a verbal arguement over boyfriends which was quite amusing and took longer than the last group to film but they completed it in the end.

During this lesson, i learnt that the comedy scripts take the longest to film as they require several takes because everyone finds them funny.and ends up laughing which spoils the filming. Also, that during my shot i had to keep my dialogue and posture/body language exactly the same throughout all four shots otherwise it would not show consistency.

Next lesson we will film the one remaining group and for the rest of the lesson we will be editing our task using imovie and start piecing it together which i am looking forward to.

Preliminary Task-Lesson 1

As part of our two minute film opening coursework a preliminary exercise is required and we embarked on this in todays lesson. The preliminary task consists of four shots; a long shot when entering the room throught the door, a two shot to show a conversation between two people taking into account the 180 degree rule so that the viewer is not confused and two over the shoulder shots to establish that a conversation is taking place between two people and they are not just talkin to the camera.

The first group began their exercise saying the song lyrics to "You got to be starting something".They managed to complete most of their task successfully but encountered a few problems for example; giggling amongst the class and noise outside the classroom. However, they managed to overcome these problems and filmed and completed their preliminary task successfully. We also identified the fact that around 15 takes were required to complete the task and they had to repeat their script four times so that we are able to edit the video afterwards and insert the four different shots.

Then my group began to film and we started to film the two shot, we giggled during the conversation at first as did the class so we had to do several takes. After a few takes, we managed to film most of the conversation successfully but towards the end the script included a mobile phone ringing which was a slight problem as we tried the student being filmed to play it on her phone but we realised it looked false and so decided to make another student ring the mobile phone but problems also arised this way as it was difficult timing it right so that it rings at the correct time according to the script. Therefore we only managed to complete one out of our four tasks completely as we ran out of tim

From this lesson i learnt that if we were to continue filming from this lesson onto next lesson we would have to have the exact same clothing, hair style, make up etc and this would be too complicated and if we were to differ it in any way it would not show consistency and would confuse the viewer.So we have decided to start again from the start next lesson and hopefully we will be able to complete it and see other groups too.