Evaluation 7 - Progression from Preliminary task, to our final product

 

 Here is a picture from our preliminary task where Emma was sat outside waiting for an interview, and James opened the door from a two shot and a side angle.

     This image is from when James had dissappeared as we forgot to show the clip of him closing the door and was an obvious error when looking at the task. This is a problem that we noticed and made sure we didn't do for our final 2 minutes of film.

This is a new shot that we used in our 2 minutes as it is quite an advanced shot and shows variation of shots.

  This is an example of the over shoulder shot and is usually included when wanting to look from their point of view. That is so you can get more involved in the film and there could be text or something that the person is looking at that you wouldn't be able to see from another angle. The shot shows the back of the person's head so you know who it is and what you're able to see.



 This is an example of a long shot and we used it mainly to show the surroundings of the area the victim (Emma) was. Because we set this scene in a graveyard it is meant to link with the horror genre and setting to create a more of a scary atmopshere for the audience.

 In our preliminary task we used an extreme close up, this is mainly to show emotion on the persons face. So on Emma's face we were trying to show that she was nervous for the interview she was about to have an audience would understand this by reading her zoomed in facial expressions.



 This is an example of a low shot and it is normally used to make the person look more powerful or important. It can be used to also show expression and captures all the key expressions on someones face. Both extreme close up and low shot show the victim (Emma) look worried and scared.

 In our preliminary task we used a high angle shot this was to get an angle of the whole room and can fit everything in so the audience is familiar with the setting and surroundings along with the location of the characters in the room.

We used different shots in both Preliminary task and in our Opening 2 minutes.
Preliminary Task:
- Over shoulder shot.
- Two shot
- High shot
- Close up
- Shot reverse shot
- Medium shot

Opening 2 minutes:
- Medium and Long shots
- Over shoulder shot
- Low shot
- Close ups
 This is a shot reverse shot and we used this in our preliminary task and it was very effective. It's because it's as if the audience is seeing it from this persons point of view and communicating and capturing all the emotions and expressions from the other person.
 Jump cuts were used in our final 2 minutes to add effect and we were praised for using it as it was a difficult camera technique to perfect. We used it as a way of the villain (me) catching up with the victim (Emma) and this gave off the impression I was following her.


This was our location of the second part of the film and where we did majority of our filming. This is improved from our preliminary task because we were given a choice whereas we only had the school grounds for our preliminary task and couldn't find a good spot whereas we did find a much better one for our Opening 2 minutes.


This is an example of us using the 180 degree rule and how we used it in our 2 minutes. This was used to not confuse the viewers and how they understand the positioning and camera shots of the film more. This is also more advanced camera shots and shows that we understand the shots.

Overall, we have all used a lot more camera shots, editing, and advanced work compared to our preliminary task.


We learnt that it is a good idea to film each shot at least 3 time to make sure you have a good one, as in the preliminary take we ended up having to film everything all over again. In our 2 minutes we did have to go back and film so things again, because we still made mistakes but we made a lot less mistakes then we would have done. Furthermore on the third day of filming, when we filmed our new ideas we filmed everything once and it all fit together well. This shows we were progressing even during our 2 minutes task. This also we have a better understanding of shots types now. As we didn’t need to film each clip from lots of different angles to make sure we had one that worked.

We progressed by learning from our mistakes. In the preliminary task, somehow we managed to look over one of our characters disappearing into thin air. So in our 2 minutes we were very careful to make sure no one suddenly disappeared, unless it was for effect. We learned that you can't just focus on little details when editing and forget the main bits of the scene. In our preliminary task the shot changes were a lot bumpier and the camera clicks could be heard. So in our 2 minutes we made sure we edited out the camera clicks.

Our shots are a lot steadier in our 2 minutes as we used a tripod, unlike in our preliminary task where we had to just try and keep a steady hand.
During the preliminary task we learnt about different shot types and how they work best (for example the 180degree rule, match on action, shot reverse shot). This was good because it meant that we were able to put shots like these into our story board in the best places because we knew were they would work most effectively. In our 2 minutes we tried to use as many different shot types as we could without affecting the continuity of our clip. This was especially important as we were making a horror.
From the preliminary task to the editing of our 2 minutes we learnt a lot more about different types of software and how to use them. This was good because it meant that when were able to edit more effectively for our main product. The main focus of editing our main product was to make the shots as effective in building up tension as possible. Hence the jump cuts and slow-motion shots.

In our 2 minutes our camerawork and editing was a lot more advanced and so therefore effective. We also used special effects, which we didn’t in our first 2 minutes. I think it is clear when you see the different products next to each other that we have progressed a lot.
However there are some ways in which we haven’t progressed from the preliminary to our final product. In both our story boards weren’t very accurate and we had to tinker with them while filming. For the 2 minutes our storyboard estimated all the shots to be a lot longer than they actually are. So we had to add in a whole extra scene what wasn’t storyboarded. In our preliminary task we had a similar problem as we found some of our ideas weren’t very good and we had to change some of them on the spot. Hopefully next year, (third time lucky) we will learn from this mistake.
Another thing was, again more timing issues, we always ended up having to rush bits of our pieces and we assume we have longer than we do. This is really bad because it means that we could lose marks because we didn’t have enough time consider different options. However this was more of a problem during the preliminary task, then our 2 minutes, as I feel we could have been more organised for the 2 minutes task, but I don’t think it would have meant us picking up more marks.

If we were to do this again, I would make sure that our story board was as accurate and detailed as it could possibly be. This way there would have been less room for error and we wouldn’t have wasted as much filming time as we did. This would have also make us a lot more organised as the prospect of filming would have been a lot less daunting if we had it planned out to the last second. Furthermore we would not had have to create a whole new scene as we would have made sure I idea would have been 2 minutes long.