question 8 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

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Mark for our film

we decided to give a our self 40 out 60.

we did not think it was good enough for a level 4 because we held a good steady shot, we didn't use all the shots to the rule of third, we used close ups and long shot showing we can use different distances, it almost looked like the original, the mis-en-sceen was good as we only needed a white room and a female with eye make up on, we edited so it made sense and used close ups more than once.

Evaluation by Conor

For our preliminary exercise we had to recreate 40 seconds of a film clip made by previous media students. we chose to use the white room as it was the same genre as our group was hopping to use.
 We used a tripod so the camera would be steady and didn't hold the camera in out hands for any shot. the only time the camera moved was when we wasn't filming as we were following the 180 degree rule. i believe the shot types we used we correct, we went out with a shot list so we knew what shots needed to be done and what needed to be in each shot, however we did change some of the shots on set as we thought it may look better than the original. we used quite a few shot types like ECU, MS and ES. however i do think i may of been good to use some different angles as the only time you see the camera looking down is when we see the dead bodies. we followed the 180 degree rule and didn't cross the line, and always moved more than 30 degrees, you can tell this because there isn't what appears to be a jump cute anywhere in the 40 seconds.

The finish product flows really well, a lot better than all of our other movies. we did not use any transition effects, we did speed up the pan of the wall tho so it made it look unusual like something wasn't right.

Because the girl in the clip was possessed we thought it would be best to have her with dark eye make up, we were gonna make her face pale bu we could not get a light enough foundation. the actor had blond hair but in the original it was dark brown maybe black so that was off alot but it brought out her eyes a bit more. we need to find someone who wont laugh as much and who looked more like the girl from the original.

i helped doing the filming, and we all did the editing, i also created the shot list that we needed and uploaded the final video and sheets we needed. we should add sound to and remember to tell out actor to scream when we need her to and use better make up and not use a whiteboard pen for the drawing on her arm.

i would probably stick with this genre but maybe not used someone being possessed maybe a ghost you cant see but know is there.

Preliminary exercise

For our preliminary exercise we had to reconstruct 40 seconds of previous students work. I and my other group members Connor Daly and Nassir Gulahmad decided to reconstruct a piece about possession. This involved the actress (me) shown to be possessed and wild. From our final piece it is clear that we are able to hold a steady shot as all the shot movements were professional and there was no jittering. We also showed that we are able to frame shots appropriately as we made sure we stuck to all of the shots the original students had used in their piece. We demonstrated a variety of shot types such as long shots (LS) and extreme close ups (ECU). An important aspect was the use of composition techniques. So we made sure we did things such as flow the rule of the thirds.
   Our finished work shows that we can apply the rules of continual editing. This is shown as all shots flow together. It also shows that we are capable of choosing appropriate editing transitions when putting the shots together. This is clearly shown as we have used techniques such as fading.
   Our finished work shows that we used appropriate costume and make up as we used near enough the same make up and costume that was used in the original piece. This was just a white t-shirt, lots of disturbing drawings all over the arms and lots of black eye liner. We are definitely positive that we used the right location for our piece as we found out from our teacher where the original students filmed their piece and we too filmed it there. This was the Faith room. I felt as the actress that handled the role well and conveyed the same message the original actress did. Although the only problem was that it took me a very long time to get into character and therefore wasted a lot of time.
   My role in the production of this piece was to be the actress mainly although I gave my ideas and opinions on editing the film. I did a lot of the planning; making storyboards for the film and helping g decide what shot types were needed. I did not help with the editing as much as I am not very good at and both Connor and Nassir were more than happy to do it.
   If I could improve the film I would make sure we had a lot more footage to work with. I would also make sure I was better at acting and gave them a lot more footage to work with. When it comes to my final coursework I will make sure we have a different actor as I feel I did not really do the roe any justice. I will also make sure I include myself more in the editing so I can involve my ideas more.

Recreation Of 40 Seconds

Composition Exercise

This week we practiced our composition skills. this involved using rules such as "the rule of third" which is a grid that you can access on the camera and use where the lines cross (the golden mean) to position certain objects/actors in the shot, as this would draw the audiences eye to important items/characters.

We are rather pleased with this film compared to our previous films as we believe that the continuity is a lot better. To improve this shot sequence we could have made sure there was a lot more light as some of the shots are rather dull.

Different to our other fils, we created a storyboard for this film and this helped a lot as we had a better of idea of what to do instead of just going out with a list of shots and not knowing what to do and changing the dialogue and sequence each time.

Continiuty Exercise

In our film we have achieved some continuity at certain point but at others like the start when we have a long shot, extreme close up and long shot again it, doesn't look like it flows. it would of looked better if we moved the camera for a different angle and shot. Towards the end it appears to flow better when Nas exits out the door.

We used skills we learned last week like how to white balance, using the correct shots, use of a tri-pod,how to focus and change the exposure and filming to much so the film doesn't roll back to much so we don't have to re-shoot. We used a white wall for the white balance, we had a sheet for guide lines of shots, focused correctly and filmed to much so we had more to use. However we didn't check the spirit level on the tri-pod so some of the shots are off ever so slightly but its noticeable and on the end shot we should of made a higher exposure because the scene is very dark or made we should of used some lighting equipment.

We believe we have used the correct shots. stating off with a long establishing shot, the extreme close up, the long shot again, mid shot, close up and mid shot to end with.

We had a sheet to give us an idea of what shots we needed to use, but we did change the shot types slightly because we thought this would be better suited for our film. We learned from watching it after and editing it, that some of the shots we changed didn't look right so we need to plan.

We had a slow pace which can be seen as building tension. There was a lack of atmosphere because of body language.

We could improve the shot, make sure the tripod is level, change the exposure for dark areas and make sure it flows better.