What new skills have you developed during the process of filming your prelim?
I have learnt many skills during the process of filming our prelim, from directing, to operating the camera, to editing. They are skills that I will improve through the media course.
Because I was a beginner to filming a prelim I picked up on many skills and techniques that i used during the process of creating our film. For example I now know what its like to be on set behind the camera, and experiencing the shooting process. I experienced this process in different positions of the film crew such as director, camera operator and operating the clapper. Crusial rules that I learnt such as waiting for 3 seconds after 'action' is shouten 'cut' and having the clapper in sight of the camera when it begins to start recording. All rules that I now know, which I didn't, but should of before filming the prelim.
Other skills I have developed are my camera shots, for example I experiemented taking different shots that I have never taken before, and using the tripod with and without to see the difference. It widened my range of views when in the hands of the camera. I also learnt that the 180 degree rule is essential when filming, because if it isn't included it could ruin your films point of view.
My directing skills have developed extremely as its made me feel more confident when organising the scenes and placing props and actors where they are needed. If something wasn't right, I knew how to fix the problem, which was something I couldn't do before.
I have learnt many skills when it comes to editing, even though I am quite good at computer based projects, I enjoyed learning how to add things to my film and put my prelim together. Once all music, transitions and credits were added the film came alive and I knew how each element had been created.
Lastly I have learnt how to keep things consistent in the film. For example always use the same room. If not, I have learnt how to find different locations.
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Prelim Evaluation - Question 4
Think about things you would do differently next time. What will you change when you do your final piece, and why?
My group next time will film in a location which we know we can use without any other people interfering. This was a huge problem during our prelim as we only used the room once which caused continuity to fail. This was because our meeting room was being used after our first day of filming. Therefore next time we will make sure our setting is the same because we want our final piece to look ruined by locations always changing. We don't want our audience to view our piece and notice that our continuity is bad. Next time we will look out for coninuity errors whilst filming so we won't have to face any problems during editing which would cause us to have to film shots over again. This way our film should have little continuity visible as possible.
We will also be thinking about our actors for our final piece. This is because sometimes our teachers we used were not reliable for filming as they were busy with their work, for example maybe in a meeting or be teaching a class. This means that we would therefore have to think about who we would use instead of teachers. We could use pupils, friends or family or ourselves in the group. The only problem with that is we would then not be focusing on our camera shots or directing, but instead consentrating on the acting produced by ourselves and learning lines. However, if we decided to keep with the teachers then we would have to discuss who we would use and what times would be best for filming. Therefore next time we would have to ask them in advance to help us then they can check if they are available, and if so then book us in on them days. This will cause less stress for the group and the staff as they will not be missing any work time.
In conclusion, we know that all the things that went wrong or were not as good in our prelim are going to try and be avoided when we take on the challenge of completing our final piece as my group want to always improve and make our films better.
My group next time will film in a location which we know we can use without any other people interfering. This was a huge problem during our prelim as we only used the room once which caused continuity to fail. This was because our meeting room was being used after our first day of filming. Therefore next time we will make sure our setting is the same because we want our final piece to look ruined by locations always changing. We don't want our audience to view our piece and notice that our continuity is bad. Next time we will look out for coninuity errors whilst filming so we won't have to face any problems during editing which would cause us to have to film shots over again. This way our film should have little continuity visible as possible.
We will also be thinking about our actors for our final piece. This is because sometimes our teachers we used were not reliable for filming as they were busy with their work, for example maybe in a meeting or be teaching a class. This means that we would therefore have to think about who we would use instead of teachers. We could use pupils, friends or family or ourselves in the group. The only problem with that is we would then not be focusing on our camera shots or directing, but instead consentrating on the acting produced by ourselves and learning lines. However, if we decided to keep with the teachers then we would have to discuss who we would use and what times would be best for filming. Therefore next time we would have to ask them in advance to help us then they can check if they are available, and if so then book us in on them days. This will cause less stress for the group and the staff as they will not be missing any work time.
In conclusion, we know that all the things that went wrong or were not as good in our prelim are going to try and be avoided when we take on the challenge of completing our final piece as my group want to always improve and make our films better.
Prelim Evaluation - Question 3
Evaluate your prelim. What could be improved? What is already good about it?
Me and my group decided that there were a few things that could of been improved in our prelim. These were things such as continuity; the 180 degree rule; and the actors vocals.
We had many problems with continuity throughout our prelim. For example we had to film in two different rooms for one scene which caused the location to look different, the lighting in the shots are different, the door is a different colour and the desk is a dfferent size and shape to the one in the first room. This causes the audience to notice that there is a continuity problem in our prelim as it is very noticable in our film. If we had shot all of our film in the meeting room, not only would our film of looked better and more professional, but no continuity would have been caused, not so obviously anyway.
Our 180 degree rule was going very well in our filming stages. We were aware that we needed to film every shot on one side of the shots and we were doing this very well. This was important in our shot counter shot as we needed to focus on the conversation being shot all on the same side. We did this successfully. However, when we came to editing our film we noticed that in one shot which was an over the shoulder shot, we had accidentally filmed on the opposite side to ever other shot we had done. This was a disappointment to us as we tried our best to obide the 180 degree rule. This could have been improved be reshooting that one shot, then our 180 degree rule would have been perfect throughout our prelim.
Finally, we had a problem with the actors volume of their lines. For example, when Mr Smith enters the room and says his lines, we then cut to a close up to him, but once he says his next set he becomes more high pitched. This could of been improved if we watched back over his last shot and notified him to speak in a certain way which would of matched his first pronounciation and pitch. Also, when Miss Cook enters the room, she is facing away from the camera when speaking. When we watched our finished piece we realised that it appeared muffled and you couldn't hear or understand what she was saying. This could of been improved if she raised the volume or rotated her head slightly to face the camera more, therefore the speaker would have picked up her line alot better.
Our group believe that our prelim has some elements that make it good already. For example our editing and certain shots chosen to use.
I believe that our editing towards our film was done very well. We cropped each shot to precisely the right part we needed for the film which incuded the entering of the shot and the exiting. the timing had to be perfect for each shot and I believe we did this extremely well. Another editing technique we used was transitions for shots. We used this for the ending, our last shot fades out to the end credits. We believe that this is very cleverly done and looks quite professional. We also added music to play over certain shots. This gave the film certain surroundings and atmospheres which make our prelim more exciting and fun. Our Opening titles and credits are well done as they appear on a plan black background before the film actually begins and after it finishes. However, we have made the title appear over our first shot so it makes the audience not only notice and look at the title, but they will also look at the first shot ans familiarise themselves with the setting and character. So overall, i believe our editing had made our film alot better then we hoped, making look alot more professional.
Lastly, I thing that we had chosen some good shots to include in our prelim. Our group wanted to try lots of different types of shots that we liked for example; over the shoulder; panning; point of view; etc. A good shot that all my group were proud of was our panning shot of the room. This also combined with a point of view shot. We were pleased that we included two types of shots in one shot. We were happy with each shot taken and it made our prelim less of a beginners work. Poor quality was affoided and the outcome of the film was good and my group were happy with our film.
Me and my group decided that there were a few things that could of been improved in our prelim. These were things such as continuity; the 180 degree rule; and the actors vocals.
We had many problems with continuity throughout our prelim. For example we had to film in two different rooms for one scene which caused the location to look different, the lighting in the shots are different, the door is a different colour and the desk is a dfferent size and shape to the one in the first room. This causes the audience to notice that there is a continuity problem in our prelim as it is very noticable in our film. If we had shot all of our film in the meeting room, not only would our film of looked better and more professional, but no continuity would have been caused, not so obviously anyway.
Our 180 degree rule was going very well in our filming stages. We were aware that we needed to film every shot on one side of the shots and we were doing this very well. This was important in our shot counter shot as we needed to focus on the conversation being shot all on the same side. We did this successfully. However, when we came to editing our film we noticed that in one shot which was an over the shoulder shot, we had accidentally filmed on the opposite side to ever other shot we had done. This was a disappointment to us as we tried our best to obide the 180 degree rule. This could have been improved be reshooting that one shot, then our 180 degree rule would have been perfect throughout our prelim.
Finally, we had a problem with the actors volume of their lines. For example, when Mr Smith enters the room and says his lines, we then cut to a close up to him, but once he says his next set he becomes more high pitched. This could of been improved if we watched back over his last shot and notified him to speak in a certain way which would of matched his first pronounciation and pitch. Also, when Miss Cook enters the room, she is facing away from the camera when speaking. When we watched our finished piece we realised that it appeared muffled and you couldn't hear or understand what she was saying. This could of been improved if she raised the volume or rotated her head slightly to face the camera more, therefore the speaker would have picked up her line alot better.
Our group believe that our prelim has some elements that make it good already. For example our editing and certain shots chosen to use.
I believe that our editing towards our film was done very well. We cropped each shot to precisely the right part we needed for the film which incuded the entering of the shot and the exiting. the timing had to be perfect for each shot and I believe we did this extremely well. Another editing technique we used was transitions for shots. We used this for the ending, our last shot fades out to the end credits. We believe that this is very cleverly done and looks quite professional. We also added music to play over certain shots. This gave the film certain surroundings and atmospheres which make our prelim more exciting and fun. Our Opening titles and credits are well done as they appear on a plan black background before the film actually begins and after it finishes. However, we have made the title appear over our first shot so it makes the audience not only notice and look at the title, but they will also look at the first shot ans familiarise themselves with the setting and character. So overall, i believe our editing had made our film alot better then we hoped, making look alot more professional.
Lastly, I thing that we had chosen some good shots to include in our prelim. Our group wanted to try lots of different types of shots that we liked for example; over the shoulder; panning; point of view; etc. A good shot that all my group were proud of was our panning shot of the room. This also combined with a point of view shot. We were pleased that we included two types of shots in one shot. We were happy with each shot taken and it made our prelim less of a beginners work. Poor quality was affoided and the outcome of the film was good and my group were happy with our film.
Prelim Evaluation - Question 2
Explain the creative decisions you made during the process.
Our first creative decision we discovered was our decision on what story to use. This was an important decision because we wanted to decide on a simple story that wouldn't involve alot of complex shots, which would prove difficult for our first time of filming. Because we were only beginners we needed to have shots that were possible to take and a simple story would allow us to be in control of the camera, whilst getting used to the whole filming consept. Me and Courtney had thought of a plot before our group was created. This included us already creating the script and some of the storyboard, so our group continued with that idea. It not only saved time but the plot was already simple.
Another creative decision my group had come across was the decision of our set. We initially were going to use an office, but because of another group wanting it too, we decided on changing our setting to a meeting room. This caused our film to stay the same, as the location stayed similar to the office. Our decision however did cause a few problems as we couldn't use that room again after our first day of filming so we had to find another setting that was also similar to the meeting room. This was difficult but once we settled for a room we realised that continuity of the rooms would be obvious to the audience. This caused our storyboard to be altered a bit to fit the changes of the room. Props were needed in the second room to make it look like the meeting room, but our decision I believe was still a good one as our room suited our story/plot.
That problem also created another creative decision from my group because we had to decide on the second room to film in. This become a very difficult decision for our group because we needed to find a location that wasn't being used and one that was similar to the meeting room. We in the end found a classroom that wasn't occupied so transformed that as much as we could to look like the meeting room. This problem has made it clear in our prelim that our location had changed.
A different creative decision me and my group come up with was to cut some of the opening shots from our story. This was because we felt that it was best to begin with the teacher sitting at the desk than our original opening of the 'orange girl' walking towards the headteachers office. We thought this because it would not only decrease the time of our story, even though that wasn't a problem of our prelim, but we felt it made the audience get straight into the plot and not drag the beginning out. This opening took a few discussions within the group to get it right. We included our production logo and title of the film before any shots were shown. This allowed us to cut two shots out. We all agreed that our beginning fitted our story, along with our opening music which totally set the scene.
Another creative decision that we made was to put in our missing shot counter shot. This was essential for our prelim as we knew that it had to be included. However, we recently had forgotten to include it, so we had to make a creative decision on where to place it in our story. Once we found a good place to put it we needed to film the shots and then insert it into our film that we had already edited and put together. Once the element was in the plot we were happy our decision was made at that time and not any later as we may of easily forgotten to include it.
Our last creative decision was to use some teachers in our film. This meant that most of our group could consentrate on the filming and directing, than focusing on the acting and remembering lines etc. We decided to use trust worthy teachers that we knew well, so we could trust them to take our task seriously so work could be complete.
Our first creative decision we discovered was our decision on what story to use. This was an important decision because we wanted to decide on a simple story that wouldn't involve alot of complex shots, which would prove difficult for our first time of filming. Because we were only beginners we needed to have shots that were possible to take and a simple story would allow us to be in control of the camera, whilst getting used to the whole filming consept. Me and Courtney had thought of a plot before our group was created. This included us already creating the script and some of the storyboard, so our group continued with that idea. It not only saved time but the plot was already simple.
Another creative decision my group had come across was the decision of our set. We initially were going to use an office, but because of another group wanting it too, we decided on changing our setting to a meeting room. This caused our film to stay the same, as the location stayed similar to the office. Our decision however did cause a few problems as we couldn't use that room again after our first day of filming so we had to find another setting that was also similar to the meeting room. This was difficult but once we settled for a room we realised that continuity of the rooms would be obvious to the audience. This caused our storyboard to be altered a bit to fit the changes of the room. Props were needed in the second room to make it look like the meeting room, but our decision I believe was still a good one as our room suited our story/plot.
That problem also created another creative decision from my group because we had to decide on the second room to film in. This become a very difficult decision for our group because we needed to find a location that wasn't being used and one that was similar to the meeting room. We in the end found a classroom that wasn't occupied so transformed that as much as we could to look like the meeting room. This problem has made it clear in our prelim that our location had changed.
A different creative decision me and my group come up with was to cut some of the opening shots from our story. This was because we felt that it was best to begin with the teacher sitting at the desk than our original opening of the 'orange girl' walking towards the headteachers office. We thought this because it would not only decrease the time of our story, even though that wasn't a problem of our prelim, but we felt it made the audience get straight into the plot and not drag the beginning out. This opening took a few discussions within the group to get it right. We included our production logo and title of the film before any shots were shown. This allowed us to cut two shots out. We all agreed that our beginning fitted our story, along with our opening music which totally set the scene.
Another creative decision that we made was to put in our missing shot counter shot. This was essential for our prelim as we knew that it had to be included. However, we recently had forgotten to include it, so we had to make a creative decision on where to place it in our story. Once we found a good place to put it we needed to film the shots and then insert it into our film that we had already edited and put together. Once the element was in the plot we were happy our decision was made at that time and not any later as we may of easily forgotten to include it.
Our last creative decision was to use some teachers in our film. This meant that most of our group could consentrate on the filming and directing, than focusing on the acting and remembering lines etc. We decided to use trust worthy teachers that we knew well, so we could trust them to take our task seriously so work could be complete.
Prelim Evaluation - Question 1
Explain, in detail, the process you went through to create your prelim.
We firstly had to decide on our storyline for our prelim. This began with a discussion about different ideas each of the members of our group thought of. This discussion involved the difficulties we believed that could have occured from each idea and the positive aspects that could come out of them. We all decided on creating a story that was simple as it was our first time filming, directing or creating any length of film whilst being taught media. Once we had agreed on our ideas, and began to produce details of our chosen story, we then began on the script. This involved a minimal time as we knew that it wouldn't take too long to complete. This was because we were only planning on creating a less than two minute film. Once we knew our script we began on the storyboard. Our storyboard contained many different shots that each of our members of the group had contributed in giving and also contained the shots that were needed in the prelim. This took a while longer than the script as it had each shot had to be drawn as seen in the film so we knew how to shoot each scene and what angles and shots to use.
Once the storyboard was complete, we began to look around our school, in search of the perfect location for our film. We looked in different offices and classroom and in the end we came across the perfect office. However, we discovered a problem at this point because another group had also wanted that office and they were filming at the same time as our group. Therefore we looked around the school once again. We then found a room that wasn't owned by our school so we had to get permission from its owner, and after the agreement we had found our filming room. We had decided to use our headteacher for one of the characters in the film but he couldn't make it as he was in a meeting so we settled for another teacher. Once we were all ready we began to film.
When we went into the room and set up the camera, we all decided to do all the shots that involved the teacher first because once all her shots were done, she wouldn't be needed anymore and could then get on with her work. So we observed our storyboard and filmed every shot she appeared in once she knew her lines from the script. During each shots we sometimes had to consider the continuity, for example she was always writing on a piece of paper so we had to make sure that she continued this action through to other shots.
Whilst filming, our headteacher who was going to play the main part had entered our room and told us that he could now be in the film as he was available, which was all well as we had a character that he could play. We filmed his shots that were needed and then the shots that him and the other teacher were in so once again- we would keep them for minimal time as possible so they could continue with their work.
Once we finished our filming for that day, as we only had an hour to film, we had realised that we still needed to shoot alot more shots. During our next media lesson we started editing the shots we had already taken. Fitting them together even if there were shots missing. This helped us because we could then see easily what shots were missing and what we needed to do to improve. Also during this lesson, we noticed that our shot counter shot was missing from our prelim so we thankfully put that into our storyboard before our next filming day. Without this mistake being noticed we would have not included the shot counter shot and we wouldn't have been marked to our highest ability for it because we missed out the shot needed in the prelim.
Our editing involved some transitions from shots which we used for the end of our film and credits which we added. Some of our opening titles were placed over our shots to show that it shouldn't distract the audience watching to take their aways away from the film, instead watch whilst reading. We also added in music in some of our shots which created a mood in the film, an atmosphere surrounding our characters. For example, when the 'orange girl' is wondering how to be mischievious, we added an up tempo music so to show the audience that she was thinking about doing something out of the ordinary. During this two hour media lesson we were going to film for the second hour, but continuity problems- such as our teacher not wearing the same clothes, and camera problems- such as low battery had stopped us from filming on that day.
However, the next day in our media class we were given two hours to finish our filming. This was more than enough for us as we were only missing a few shots. But we came across a problem. We couldn't get the same room that we had filmed in before because it was being used for a meeting. This meant we had to search for another room. This became a problem in a finished film as our continuity for the room wasn't very good, as it was obvious that two different rooms were used, but we had no choice. Once in the room we tried our best to make it look the same as the other, for example the teachers desk, her piece of paper, the door etc. Once we had sorted out the room we recovered into our postitions as camera operator and director and shot the vital scenes that we had missed.
Once they were complete we added them to our others and edited the film as a whole. We cut down shots to take out the clapper board and we sliced shots so we could used the shots in the shot counter shot. Once we finished and watched our final piece we noticed that our continuity was disappointing but we were overall happy with our prelim.
We firstly had to decide on our storyline for our prelim. This began with a discussion about different ideas each of the members of our group thought of. This discussion involved the difficulties we believed that could have occured from each idea and the positive aspects that could come out of them. We all decided on creating a story that was simple as it was our first time filming, directing or creating any length of film whilst being taught media. Once we had agreed on our ideas, and began to produce details of our chosen story, we then began on the script. This involved a minimal time as we knew that it wouldn't take too long to complete. This was because we were only planning on creating a less than two minute film. Once we knew our script we began on the storyboard. Our storyboard contained many different shots that each of our members of the group had contributed in giving and also contained the shots that were needed in the prelim. This took a while longer than the script as it had each shot had to be drawn as seen in the film so we knew how to shoot each scene and what angles and shots to use.
Once the storyboard was complete, we began to look around our school, in search of the perfect location for our film. We looked in different offices and classroom and in the end we came across the perfect office. However, we discovered a problem at this point because another group had also wanted that office and they were filming at the same time as our group. Therefore we looked around the school once again. We then found a room that wasn't owned by our school so we had to get permission from its owner, and after the agreement we had found our filming room. We had decided to use our headteacher for one of the characters in the film but he couldn't make it as he was in a meeting so we settled for another teacher. Once we were all ready we began to film.
When we went into the room and set up the camera, we all decided to do all the shots that involved the teacher first because once all her shots were done, she wouldn't be needed anymore and could then get on with her work. So we observed our storyboard and filmed every shot she appeared in once she knew her lines from the script. During each shots we sometimes had to consider the continuity, for example she was always writing on a piece of paper so we had to make sure that she continued this action through to other shots.
Whilst filming, our headteacher who was going to play the main part had entered our room and told us that he could now be in the film as he was available, which was all well as we had a character that he could play. We filmed his shots that were needed and then the shots that him and the other teacher were in so once again- we would keep them for minimal time as possible so they could continue with their work.
Once we finished our filming for that day, as we only had an hour to film, we had realised that we still needed to shoot alot more shots. During our next media lesson we started editing the shots we had already taken. Fitting them together even if there were shots missing. This helped us because we could then see easily what shots were missing and what we needed to do to improve. Also during this lesson, we noticed that our shot counter shot was missing from our prelim so we thankfully put that into our storyboard before our next filming day. Without this mistake being noticed we would have not included the shot counter shot and we wouldn't have been marked to our highest ability for it because we missed out the shot needed in the prelim.
Our editing involved some transitions from shots which we used for the end of our film and credits which we added. Some of our opening titles were placed over our shots to show that it shouldn't distract the audience watching to take their aways away from the film, instead watch whilst reading. We also added in music in some of our shots which created a mood in the film, an atmosphere surrounding our characters. For example, when the 'orange girl' is wondering how to be mischievious, we added an up tempo music so to show the audience that she was thinking about doing something out of the ordinary. During this two hour media lesson we were going to film for the second hour, but continuity problems- such as our teacher not wearing the same clothes, and camera problems- such as low battery had stopped us from filming on that day.
However, the next day in our media class we were given two hours to finish our filming. This was more than enough for us as we were only missing a few shots. But we came across a problem. We couldn't get the same room that we had filmed in before because it was being used for a meeting. This meant we had to search for another room. This became a problem in a finished film as our continuity for the room wasn't very good, as it was obvious that two different rooms were used, but we had no choice. Once in the room we tried our best to make it look the same as the other, for example the teachers desk, her piece of paper, the door etc. Once we had sorted out the room we recovered into our postitions as camera operator and director and shot the vital scenes that we had missed.
Once they were complete we added them to our others and edited the film as a whole. We cut down shots to take out the clapper board and we sliced shots so we could used the shots in the shot counter shot. Once we finished and watched our final piece we noticed that our continuity was disappointing but we were overall happy with our prelim.
Thursday, 29 October 2009
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