Preliminary task evaluation

Perhaps the biggest thing I learnt whilst carrying out the preliminary production task is that the filming and editing processes aren’t as easy as I’d mistaken them to be.

We failed to realise that an establishing shot that included a zoom from a long distance wouldn’t be free of camera shake, despite the use of a tripod and the image stabilizer setting. This was especially apparent when it came to the editing process, as a larger screen made it appear even worse.

In a previous lesson we had already learnt that when two characters are having a conversation over the phone it is a good idea if one of them faces screen left and one faces screen right. Again, we didn’t realise we had made this mistake until it came to editing.

To prevent these problems occurring in our coursework, it would be a good idea either to plan in more detail, or review our shots whilst we still have the opportunity to rectify our mistakes by filming the problematic scenes again.

The least productive aspect of working in a group was the fact that we occasionally disagreed on what type of shot to use. This could be, and was addressed by, either compromising or filming all of the possible shots and making a decision in the editing process, as it is possible to edit down but not to create edits if shots don’t exist. Another alternative would be to change groups, which is something I think is going to happen anyway when it comes to the coursework task. Ideas will, however, have to be shared and agreements will have to me made.

In order to help me improve my AS coursework production, I have learnt that in the editing process shots often need to be cut down a lot so as not to bore the audience, how to do j-cuts, where the audio of the next shot comes in before the video, which made the phone appear to still be ringing when it was lifted off the desk, linking the two shots together, to try and avoid extreme zooms, as the result was less that desirable, and to have one character facing screen left and one facing screen right during conversations, even if they’re on the phone and not actually together. I also learned how to export the finished production and select the area it is exported to, after using various tools in the editing software, such as that that allows shots to be cropped a frame at a time and adding titles and transitions.

We were able to produce something that was by no means excellent, but still watchable as a first attempt at an AS production; it had faults, but it was also clear in meaning.

Although we messed up with the filming of the actual phone call, we still managed to include a couple of match on action shots and we obeyed the 180 degree rule, which was paired with the use of shot reverse shots for the face to face conversation. The combination of the 180 degree rule and the latter shot ensured that it was clear that the two people speaking were looking at each other’s eyes, as opposed to over their shoulders. Shot reverse shots were also used for the phone call. By using match on action shots-where action continues between two shots-it aids the audience’s understanding of what’s happening. Transitions have the same effect. The mistakes we made will enable us to improve in our marked coursework.

What pleased me the most about my role in that production was the fact that I was able to edit the footage in a way that made the match on action shots appear believable and I contributed just as much as the other members of my group did.