Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Preliminary Brief:
Film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character. A couple of lines of dialogue must then exchanged between characters & match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule should be demonstrated.
Main Task:
The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes (all video and audio material must be original, produced by candidates, with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source)
I feel that since making the transition from my Preliminary task to my main task my skills and techniques have developed and progressed highly.
Brief
The preliminary brief and overall task was kept very simple as we all knew what we had to do and how to execute it. We only had a limited amount of camera training but this task was well withing our range. Focusing on the continuity and camera techniques such as shot reverse shot and 180 degree rule, was the main goal and was of importance.
The main task brief seemed much more detailed to me as i knew that it was going to be a lot more work and effort. Not only was the media product going to be longer, but there were going to be more camera angles, techniques and i had to take part in a camera masterclass. However, i was much more excited to do this task than the prelim task as it was a fresh start and as a group we all knew that we wanted this to be more professional and to have a higher production value than our prelim task, which felt like a practice run to prepare us for this.
PRE- PRODUCTION
Once we understood the brief , we then had to move straight into our pre-production process. We had to run through this stage fairly quickly during preliminary task due to the limi
ted time that we had to plan,shoot and edit, however I still learnt a lot from it.Before we could begin shooting our short sequence, we were able to produce:A storyboard
Shooting schedule
Dialogue script for our final idea.
But for the main task we also had to create:
Additional redrafted storyboards
Photo storyboards
Props lists
Casts lists
Prepare rehearsal dates
These tasks proved very helpful before production. The storyboards were made so that each member of the group were on the same page and understood the same concept of the task. In this case it was just me and my partner Edward. The shooting schedules enabled us to keep on track and time of our shots. In the main task this was vital as we had to book the tracks for one of our shots and we only had until 5pm to finish filming. I was glad that i got to use the track as it was something new that i had learnt as i we didn't use them in our prelim task. The location Reece's were vital as without knowing exactly where you were going shoot, you wouldn't have a location.For the prelim task, this wasn't as important and we just needed any classroom for our film. However, a lot more thought went into our main task location Reece as for both scenes lighting was extremely important. (Green light in workshop and natural lighting outside house) Overall, the planning for the preliminary task was useful as our main group were fully prepared for any mistakes and complications which saved us more time and we were therefore organised
PRODUCTION
At the production stage of the preliminary task we could not have a test shoot or reshoot due to shortage of time. This meant we just had to shoot the final piece, allow no space for big mistakes and really think each shot
and camera movement through thoroughly. Filming went well, apart from some time management which led to only 3/4 of our scenes being shot, but i understood my role as camera operator achieved the shots that's we wanted. Due to time restraints of the preliminary task, i felt that the main task ran much more smoothly as i was more familiar with the equipment,i knew which shots would work and which wouldn't, and we were able to take our time in making the film look as professional as possible.The process of running a shoot used during our preliminary task was not as efficient as the main task as both Edward and i were not familiar with the equipment or the him with the continuity sheets.Edward, kept filling out every single box or each shot instead of using "ditto marks", which was time consuming Before we shot each individual shot, the director would say “sound ready, camera ready” and then name the take and then say “action.” We carried this method into the production when filming our opening sequence to a film. It meant we could check everything was ready before we shot and when we came to editing, we would be aware of what take and shot it was
From the progression from my preliminary task to the full product I have learnt in this stage that:
Time management is extremely important for organisation and efficiency within the group, and to get
Having a shooting schedule helps you keep on track with your shots.
Making sure that you always have more shots than you need to use. that when editing you have a range of shots
I must ALWAYS look at the view finder whilst recording as it is important to have the right focus in the correct composition of the frame. Also, you always want the right amount of space around the persons head.POST-PRODUCTIONIn the preliminary task we had to keep the film very simple and short. The storyline was basic as the main aim was to make it flow and too keep the continuity. The editing process made this possible through our basic knowledge of digitising,assemble edits,copy and pasting.razoring and re-ordering.From my previous editing experience i felt that the progression was great and a lot less time consuming as i knew what i was doing when it came to the basics such as digitising which only took 1 hour for the 50+ takes that we had. However, this larger number of shots, did require additional technique's and more transitions had to be used. Also, continuity wasn't the only thing that we had to think about as, making sure that the each shot flows well into the next, sound bridges,soundtracks.FEEDBACK & EVALUATIONThis was the final stage of both projects and both were vital in helping me realise my progress from the preliminary task to the main. Receiving feedback throughout the whole project is really important to keep improving it and finding out if it attracts the audience particularly in the main task.However, for the preliminary task, we didn't have to consider the target audience or any character profiles as it was constructed for media students’ learning experience to see how we handle our first media production. Therefore it taught me the technical side and meant I could take into account factors that went wrong in the preliminary task for the real full product. These factors included the focus of the camera changing and changing the microphone input.Overall, i learnt over the two projects that working with different people is always a good thing as you get the chance to work with people who have another perspective and differences can sometimes build up the group dynamics making a great final product. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment