Media!
Preliminary task evaluation;
1. Do you believe your piece of film demonstrates continuity well? If so why?
- When looking back on our piece of film I do feel as though our piece demonstrates continuity well as we have included various camera angles and shots to make it look continuous. Also our use of music helps our film show continuity in the way we carried on some parts into the next shot. For example in the ending of our piece we had music starting and carrying on throughout the title sequence. During the editing process we decided to add in transitions. I think the transition we used which was fade to black helped demonstrating continuity in the way it faded into the next part of the film. Also by including our required techniques like shot reverse shot and match on action helped to make it continuous. This is because it flowed from one part to another, especially in our match on action part as you could see how it was following through from the other side of the door. For our flashback we used a dream sequence which made that part of our film purposely discontinuous as it was going back in time, instead of being set in the same time as the rest of the film. This however was intentional as we wanted to create a flashback to give an insight of what had happened to the character.
This is an example of match on action that we filmed for our film. This was one of the required techniques as well as a contributor to making our film continuous
2. Have you demonstrated match on action; shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule? If so why are these editing techniques helpful?
- In our piece we have included the three required editing techniques as we were meant to. I believe we did this in a way which shows our capability in being able to produce work of a good standard. We had to be careful when doing our match on action to do it correctly to make sure the end result looked continuous. When thinking back on the reviews from the rest of the class I think it came across how we wanted and we filmed a good example of match on action by having someone enter a room through a door and come out the other side. This technique is very helpful as it makes the film look more professional and improves the quality of our film. It was also a requirement to include shot reverse shot. This technique was useful as without it our film wouldn’t be continuous. We used this throughout the exchange of dialogue to ensure what one of them was saying match with the response. With the 180 degree rule it was vital to include it as without it the scene wouldn’t make sense and could confuse the audience.
3. How do you feel your group worked together?
- I feel as though our group tried really hard to make our film a success and work together the best that we could to make sure the end result was of a good quality. We were perhaps not as organised for the filming as we could have been as we did not plan out before it came to filming, what part each of us were going to film. Once it came to filming we soon sorted out who was doing what but still could have saved time by planning it ahead. For our editing we made sure that not all four of us were there as it would not give us a fair chance of using the equipment. Instead we went in pairs and found that we benefited much more form that compared to what we would have if we were editing in a group. When planning our ideas we made sure each one of us had a say in what we was going to create, this way we each had an input.
4. If you were to film this piece again is there anything you could improve on?
If we were to film our piece again I think we would have thought about our costumes more as we didn’t really have anything planned. We should have asked the actors to bring in a set of clothing to wear when filming the flashback as we realised once we filmed it that both of them were wearing the same clothes and it was supposed to be set in the past. Other than that I don’t think there as anything else major that I would change but I just think we could have thought about mise en scene a lot more than we had as our main focus was including the requirements and the camera angles and shots. When getting feedback from the rest of the class, most of it was positive but they did comment on how we could have made the room in which we filmed in, look better and to have more props included. I would also have made slight adjustments to the editing of our film as when watching it back now I do not believe the sound effect that is used at where we have a close up on the character. I now look back at it and feel that it didn’t fit in with the situation as we originally did when we edited it.
5. Did you plan your video well, or could you improve on this? If so why?
- When it came to planning I think we planned out our ideas for the film well as we all had an input into what was going to be featured and by the end of the planning all had a clear idea as to what part we was going to focus on each like the script, storyboard, actors and others. I don’t believe that we planned out our mise en scene as well as we could have when it came to the filming. At the time our main focus were the required elements and we did not realise until the day of filming that we were lacking costumes for the flashback. This is something we would improve on if we could as our film could have benefited from this. We could have also been more organised when it came to filming and should have sorted out before filming who was going to film what part to make sure each of us had an equal opportunity to use the cameras. Luckily this problem was soon resolved as we had various parts in our film that could be spread out to make sure everyone filmed something.
6. Did you use transitions within your piece?
- Our group did use transitions as we thought that for some parts it would improve the quality of it by adding transitions. We only used two transitions in our piece as we only felt that they were the only ones relevant to our piece. We put in a fade to black technique so the scene would run continuously onto the flashback, and also we thought the fading made the flashback scene look more like it was revisiting the past. We also included this transition in the ending of our piece to give it a distinctive finish and a good way to run smoothly into the credits. We also used a dream affect transition to make the flashback scene look more like it was a flashback rather than set in the present with the rest of our film. With this transition we also changed the colour of that scene to black and white to add to the effect of it being a memory. We decided not to add in any other as we felt as though the others did not make sense with the type of film we were creating. We also did not want to over do it and make it look like there were too many, instead wanted to keep it simple to make it more affective.
7. Have your learnt anything about editing software and technologies whilst doing this exercise?
- I’ve learnt a lot about editing from this task as before this I was unaware of a lot of the techniques and technologies that are used in editing software. I now feel more confident that next time I edit a film that I will know the basics of what I have to do to edit it as before I wouldn’t have known. I have learnt how to upload our film onto the programme and actually edit it by deleting parts that we didn’t want and by adding transitions and effects to improve the quality of it. Before this I did not know about a lot of techniques that we included in our film. I also was unaware of how to make a film continuous and since filming I found out how vital it is to not have a discontinuous film. This task has also helped me become more aware of the technologies that we used like the cameras and other equipment. Now I have had the experience of coming to terms with it I now feel as though I will be able to operate a camera with more ease next time.
