Evaluation Of Our Preliminary Task

Evaluation

My group has now completed the planning, filming and editing of our preliminary task, and I am very happy with the finished project. Overall I think that the project went really well, and that the group worked well together and that the work load was shared equally. The planning stages were carried out quickly and efficiently, and this ensured that the rest of the project flowed with the same efficiency, despite the fact that we had to re-film our project due to the camera cutting out. This however will be a good lesson to learn from, and will teach us to always make sure that the camera is fully charged before we begin filming. This project has also taught me how to use all the professional equipment properly, so when creating my final project I will be able to use the camera, lighting and editing software confidently and to a high standard. 

When editing (I had never edited properly before) there were a few issues to overcome such as figuring out how to use the Adobe Pro editing software, as it was quite complicated and difficult to comprehend. However, by doing this preliminary task, I am now able to edit quite confidently, and know how to use the large variety of transitions and special effects available on the programme. Another issue that we dealt with was that some of the footage we filmed didn't fit together as smoothly as we would've liked, which made certain aspects of the editing slightly more complex, however this will be another good lesson to learn from when filming our final pieces and ensure we complete our thriller genre clips to the highest standard. 

Preliminary Task - Final Edit

Prelim Task - Final Edit

Preliminary Task - Editing

Prelim Task - Editing

After we had finished filming our footage for the preliminary task on the 12th November 2015, we began to edit our footage together to create a sleek, professional-looking clip that featured a variety of transitions and special effects to enhance the footage.

Emma did the majority of the final editing, with help from myself, Amy and Harriet in the beginning stages so that the whole group had the opportunity to learn the editing skills. It was our first attempt at using the professional editing software so it was difficult at first to join the correct clips together and trim down certain clips that included extra footage we didn't need, however after working at it for a while and seeking advice from our teacher it became easier and we managed to add in extra features such as non-diegetic music, slow motion footage and sound effects to create a tense and thriller-esque effect throughout our clip.

This experience has been hugely helpful as it has taught us the basic skills on how to edit our film footage, which we will continue to use when editing our final piece.

Preliminary Task - Filming

Prelim Task - Filming

My group first began filming on the 10th November 2015, and chose to film our preliminary project in the school library and a small office room with all the necessary filming equipment. However, halfway through the filming process our camera ran out of battery so we were unable to film the rest of our project until the following Thursday. As we had to continue our filming on a different day, we decided as a group that it would be easier to re-film the whole project in a new location to prevent drastic changes in lighting and costume changes over the different dates. We chose to film in the media studio rather than the library as this allowed us to use the professional lighting and backdrops which created a higher quality piece.

As we had to re-film our whole project, we had to be extremely efficient with our time schedule as we had very little time to film and edit our project within the allocated time. To combat this, we assigned each member of the group to a different task in order to save time. Myself and Harriet did all the filming for the project and set up the lights and backdrop to suit the footage, and Amy and Emma played the two characters in the task. We made a group decision on how to set up the 'interview' furniture in the scene, as well as which camera shots and angles looked best for the footage. We also slightly adapted some of the original dialogue that we had written on our storyboard, as parts of the original speech between the characters didn't flow throughout the footage as smoothly as we would've liked.

We worked well as a team so finished the filming on time with plenty of time to edit in our next media session, and the only aspect of filming that tended to slow us down was the focusing of the camera in some of the scenes as it was difficult to control at the beginning of the process. However, this was soon resolved as we got to grips with the equipment, so all the footage was executed to a high quality which made the editing process much easier.

Preliminary Task - Planning

Prelim Task - Planning

My group (which consists of myself, Emma, Harriet and Amy) decided that the best way to plan our preliminary task would be to write down all our narrative ideas on a mind map, and include all ideas for mise-en-scene, editing, filming and sound too. By doing this we were able to come up with a brief narrative that we all agreed on, whilst also taking into consideration the conventions of a thriller as this is the genre we want to incorporate in our project. We also managed to plan our dialogue and which members of the group would be performing each task in the project.

After we finished our mindmap and were confident with our narrative ideas, we began to storyboard our narrative on several sheets of paper that were clearly sectioned into hand-drawn pictures and handwritten text boxes. This will help us to visualise what our clip should look like and how the characters and props will appear in the each frame if we follow the plan. It also finalised our decisions for the task as we all agreed on the shots and features throughout the storyboard, which reinforces that we all have the same vision for the project and that there shouldn't be any issues with the footage if the filming goes according to plan.

These first three boxes represent the beginning of our clip as the main character is introduced to the narrative as she enters the location. This character is played by Emma.

These next three boxes show some close up shots which feature the character opening a door and heading towards another room. These shots will be used to create tension and could possibly be put into slow motion when we edit to emphasise the tension in the scene.

In these boxes the two characters will meet and be seated across from each other at an interview table in a dark room.

In these boxes the characters will exchange four lines of dialogue, and this is where the main focus of the narrative will take place.

The exchange of dialogue will continue throughout these boxes on the storyboard, and various close up and over-the-shoulder shots will be featured.

The first character will then exit the scene, leaving an air of mystery and intrigue behind.

This task has helped us practise our skills revolving around filming and planning, and will also be good practise for planning our real final piece. 

Research - Analysing Other Students' Work 3

Research - Analysing Other Students' Work

The next clip I watched is titled Torn, and received an A grade from the examination board. The clip begins with the camera panning outside a house in the morning, and immediately the credits begin to appear on the screen in white, bold font. The credits last for an appropriate length of time, and are written in bold, sans serif font that looks realistic for film credits. The main character appears from the front door, and picks up the newspaper and heads toward the back garden shown from a variety of well-filmed shots. The footage is well edited and flows smoothly throughout the narrative, and between some of the shots black and white images of dolls occassionally are super-imposed over the top to create a tense effect. Non-diegetic music is present throughout the whole clip to add to the creepy, tense mood of the narrative, and as the character enters the music intensifies and adds more beats and pitches to heighten the suspense. All the elements featured throughout the clip are high quality and work well with each other to complete an overall professional seeming standard. The only thing that could be improved is the character's dialogue as the male character's voice isn't perfectly clear and does not match the overall mood of the scene.

A Grade Clip (Torn):

Research - Analysing Other Students' Work 2

Research - Analysing Other Students' Work 3

The last clip I watched didn't have an official film title and was simply called WIDESCREEN AS THRILLER, and also received an A grade from the exam board. The clip is filmed in a variety of black and white and colour, and begins with one of the characters turning the kettle on, immediately followed by the title credits in bright, bold, turquoise font. The second character enters the location and walks towards the house and knocks on the door, filmed from a variety of different camera shots which flow smoothly between each other. The first character then invites him in for a drink, which leads up to the second character's death. Non-diegetic music is present throughout which creates an atmosphere of suspense, however the music is not typically in the thriller genre so this is something I will test out multiple times when creating my own final piece. The constant switching from black and white to colour creates a slightly unprofessional effect so I personally would have filmed it all in black and white rather than a mix of the two, however the overall clip is high quality and flows well between each shot. 

A Grade Clip: (WIDESCREEN AS THRILLER)

Research - Analysing Other Students' Work

Research - Other Students' Work

For part of my research I have chosen to watch a varietyof other students' final pieces on Weebly from a couple of years ago to give me inspiration for my final piece, and to analyse what contributes to a good final piece to receive a high grade.

The first video I watched is titled Ring of Trees, and received an E grade from the examination board. The clip begins in a dark, unknown location with the characters shouting and running towards the camera, and then wipes to a black screen where the title credits start. The credits only appear for a very short amount of time, so it's difficult to read them all in time which creates an unprofessional standard and seems rushed, so I will make sure I do not do this when creating my final piece in order to not be marked down for any potential errors. The lighting throughout the clip changes drastically which reinforces the unprofessional quality, and makes it difficult for the audience to see the characters' facial expressions as they're filmed in the dark outside. The quality of the film footage is poor which suggests that this group didn't film their footage on a professional camera and may have used their smartphones which are visible in the film, as one of the character's uses a torch light on her phone to make the other characters' visible in the dark. This yet again makes their project appear unprofessional and poor quality, so I will take their errors into account when filming my final piece so that my footage is as high quality as possible.  

E Grade clip (Ring of Trees):