Self-evaluation
Who did you work with and how did you manage the task
between you?
I worked with Nathan Lorenzo and Jack Beeson. Jack filmed all
the clips and Nathan was the main character and I was a secondary actor. We
were assigned a genre and ours was thriller, which we were all happy with but
we knew it would be a challenge to film and make sure it is not conveyed as a
horror. We discussed the basic outline of our story and made sure we kept with
our theme the whole way through, they key was not to be too over the top and
create a tense atmosphere so we could make it clear to the audience that our
theme was thriller.
How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use?
What theories did you try to take into account?
To plan the sequence, we made a storyboard in which we made
different scenes and discussed where we would put the shots that were given to
us to make the scene more effective, we also made a script to make sure we all
knew what we had to say and at what time. We had to think about what we would
do throughout the prelim task to make sure that our thriller did not become a
horror as we were told that it was hard to convert into a horror from a
thriller. We thought about the lighting and the location of where we would be
filming as it had to be relating to our genre all the way through. We also used
a Prezi presentation to document the filming and the storyline to show how we
had planned and used our time.
What technology did you use to complete the task, and how
did you use it?
We used the school video cameras and tripods to film and
complete the task. We used a phone to create the flashing effect in the last
scene as we thought it looked very effective and then we used the computers and
premier to finalise and perfect the task. We added sound effects and video
effects to our videos, which enhanced the original footage and made it seem
more like a thriller.
What factors did you have to take into account when
planning, shooting and editing?
We needed to make a tense and dramatic atmosphere which was very
hard to do during the day as it was very light in most places that we went and
we wanted it to be dark. We had to find the perfect places to film too as we
had to be in the right setting to convey our genre. When we were shooting, we had
to find the best lighting and whereabouts it was and where would be best to
film, we had to shoot may scenes more than once for multiple reasons like,
something in the shot was missing or we couldn’t stop laughing. But once we
took the roles seriously we got it done much quicker and it was much easier to
film. When editing, I found it a little hard as when I had previously used
premier I did not use some of the effects I used this time round so I found it
a little more complex to work with but once I had added effects I was much more
comfortable with using the software.
How successful was your sequence? Please identify what
worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently? What
did others say about your production?
Overall I think the sequence
worked well. I was happy with the end result and most of the feedback received
was positive. If we had more time I would have liked to film in a different
location and a different time as we wanted it to be dark but most of the time
it was very light in our scenes. Also I would have made the dialogue much
better as I found we needed more to explain what was going on in the scene as
we were the ones that thought of the story and understood it, we assumed
everyone else would, but it was actually quite confusing as we were told in our
feedback so I would have added more dialogue to help people understand the
scenes more. I think our group worked well together and we could easily select
roles in the task. I was very happy with the shots we go but although we did
not capture all of the shots required I was very happy with the ones we did
film.
What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking
ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your
foundation coursework, do you think?
I learnt a lot from doing this task as it really showed me how
difficult it is to film the perfect shot and how many details and aspects need
to be thought about and included. It has definitely helped me feel more
confortable with using the premier software which will be very useful. It also
made me realise that I need to use my time more wisely when filming and
editing. Instead of messing around and not keeping up with everything, I need
to be on top of everything and make sure I take all of it more seriously. And
instead of putting off the planning of it all, I should have done that first
and made sure that everything was figured out and where and when we would be
filming. But overall I really enjoyed making the video and was happy with the
outcome.