Evaluation | Next Years Targets

My group and I have enjoyed producing this opening scene as part of our course. If we could go back and do anything differently, it might be planning a little further ahead than we did to make sure we have good weather throughout filming and a bright location to film in. Lighting was probably our biggest problem as it did take away the realism from our scene as it was obvious that the 2 minutes of screen-time had actually been several hours in real-time. Our target for improving mise-en-scene is to correct this by choosing a better location to film in than a dense forest that blocks out most sunlight, although this change in location would have happened anyway as we would want to create a completely different film.

Focusing on camera composition, we think a realistic target for next year if we really want to up our game is to use a better camera to film our trailer. The cameras we used this year did the job but a lot of the ideas we had that involved switches in focus or changes in zoom had to be scrapped because the camera did not have the capability to do it. We want to film in a higher quality and be more free in what shots we want to achieve without having the limitation of what our camera can actually do. This would allow us to have those shots we planned to have where we can direct the audiences attention to different places in the shot by using focus. 

In terms of editing, I think we did quite well this year as we managed to get pretty much exactly what we wanted to get out of our shots using software we were inexperienced in. Creating and placing the opening credits was probably the hardest thing to do but we managed to get our heads round it eventually. Our target for next year would probably be to make our editing slightly different by experimenting with different cuts between shots. This should be especially important in making a trailer as there will no doubt be more locations we will be filming in so we will need a more obvious cut between shots to differentiate these parts of the film. 

Finally we need to improve sound. This was another tricky part of production as in some shots our actors were far away from the camera and yet we still needed to hear what they were saying. It was also tricky to balance the sound of the background music and the voices of our characters so neither overpowered the other. Our target for next year is to take advantage of post-production sound recording, to overdub the dialogue after we film it so that it sounds clear to the audience and better overall. If we can work on these 4 technical areas and achieve our targets, our trailer next year should be very good.

Evaluation | Technology

We used a few pieces of technology in the making of our film, the main ones being the camera, tripod and computer software used in editing our scene. The camera was a simple model, small and handheld but still maintaining a high quality. The camera helped me to learn more about positioning of the camera in relation to the shots you want to achieve. It is not just about pointing the camera in the right direction but also about balancing the shot so it was level. The fact we filmed our scene in a location with such uneven ground meant this was crucial to making the shots look good. The tripod was obviously also a big help in achieving this balance of shots.

The software we used in editing was Adobe Premier Elements 10. To start with the program was quite difficult to use but after a while using it it became easier to use and deal with problems that arose. It was maybe not the best possible editing software we could have used but it did the job we needed it to. I now feel much more knowledgeable and experienced in not only using this software but in editing a film in general. We also used other simple programs such as Microsoft Paint to create titles and production logos.

Evaluation | Preliminary Task Progression

I feel we have come a long way since our preliminary task, mainly in our ability to edit our shots together more smoothly and in our choice of camera angles. In our preliminary, match on action was a focus point especially when the character opens the door. Although this was roughly achieved, the way the shots were put together was not as smooth as we would have liked. During our production though and throughout our editing we had a little bit more experience so in our final edit of our opening scene character actions were bridged more smoothly from shot to shot.

The 180 degree rule was not kept to well in our preliminary task, with the camera jumping from one side of the character to the other side in subsequent shots. This makes it confusing for the audience. In our opening scene we made sure to keep to the rule and we think we kept to the rule in all situations, bar one where we were borderline over the imaginary line. This is the moment where we have the 2 shots of the train one after the other near the beginning of the scene. In other moments particularly when our characters speak to each other we kept to the rule. It was also in our dialogue between characters that we used shot/reverse shot to show our characters reactions to what the other was saying.

Evaluation | Annotated Opening

This is our opening scene with added notes and annotations to give the audience a more in-depth look at some of the creative decisions we made during production. We comment on music, genre conventions, similarities with other films and camera angles.