AS Preliminary Evaluation

I think I have accomplished a lot whilst completing the preliminary task. When I started my preliminary task I had never used a camera to take serious pictures or videos, and I definitely didn’t know how to use a tripod or attach a camera to it. Although I was in front of the camera most of the time I made sure to practice with the camera and I now know how to attach it to a tripod safely, record, pause and add a grid to the screen that splits the picture into three (rule of thirds). The part I found most challenging about the task was making sure we used our time efficiently. We has to consider the continuity of our video which meant making sure that we were wearing the same clothes every time we filmed. This meant that there were lessons that we struggled to fill our time because we couldn’t film. Next time i think we should film after school because we would have more time and we won’t have to keep stopping and starting. I also learnt that things don’t always go as we plan them. For example, although we made a story board before filming, we did have to change our plans because we decided our first story line didn’t offer us enough chances to create a tense atmosphere.

What I Have Learned

Because the three people in our group (Charlotte, Caitlin and I) are good friends and know each other well we worked very well as a team and understood that we each had different responsibilities and were dedicated to different things. This meant that we didn’t argue about commitment are putting extra time in. We all felt confident enough to contribute ideas and discuss the pros and cons of them, whilst knowing we wouldn’t hurt any ones feelings. We didn’t waste to much time and got started on the task straight away. This meant that we had plenty of time to edit, re-film and adjust things when needed. We even managed to finish a few days before the deadline. During our preliminary task we used shot reverse shot to make the conversation seem natural and as if it was flowing, and it also showed who the other person was talking to. Furthermore, we included a leading line shot when I was walking to the door to show where I was heading and make the audience focus on the doors. This showed the importance of her going through the door, symbolising that something interesting was going to happen when she goes through.

Areas of Success

The last part of creating our video was to edit it and as we watched it back on the computer to check that the shots we had were all usable we noticed an error. We saw a reflection of Charlotte and Caitlin filming it in the glass door I was walking through. To prevent this from happening next time we can watch each clip immediately after filming to check that it doesn’t need to be redone. Another thing we will consider more carefully next time is our choice of location. One problem that we encountered was that because we chose to film on the stairs people kept interrupting us by coming up and down. This meant that some time was wasted whilst waiting for people to leave. Furthermore, our exterior location was outside the music corridor, meaning that during the leading line shot keyboards and other instruments which meant that we had to remove the sound from this part. Although we managed to replace it effectively with a wind sound, it meant that the footsteps could not be heard, making the scene seem more naturalistic. A way to avoid these problems next time is to film after school when everything is quitter and there are less people around.

Areas of Development

We were asked to include three specific shots in our preliminary task; shot reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule. In the task we had to include a person walking towards a door and then going through it on the other side. As I said before, we included shot reverse shot during the conversation effectively (maybe too often). We also showed that we understood and knew how to execute match on action when I was recorded walking towards the door, placing my hand on the handle and beginning to walk through it. This was shot from behind, and then the camera was moved inside the school and videoed me walking through the door from the front. We had to make sure that my hands and feet didn’t move whist Caitlin came past with the camera otherwise the shots wouldn’t line up. I think we included the 180 degree rule because during our shot reverse shot we made sure that our eye lines matched where the camera angle changed to.

How Well Did You Meet The Brief?

We asked Brandon Hoult to watch and evaluate our preliminary task and he said that he thought that our use of sound effects (the wind sound at the beginning) was effective at helping the audience identify the atmosphere of the scene. However he said that a flaw in or video was the reflection of Charlotte and Caitlin in the door. Furthermore he said that the beginning, leading line scene was too long and should have been shorter. He also said that the ending of our preliminary task was effective because the camera zoomed in on charlottes face- creating an extreme close up- showing the audience how evil her character was.

Feedback from Others

We shared the work equally within our work. Caitlin’s contribution was mainly in the filming aspect- since Charlotte and I were in it. She was very patient with us whilst practiced and tried to work out what we were saying. Charlotte contributed greatly with the editing, as she fund she was very good at this. However we also found that she wasn’t very flexible outside of school and did cancel our plans to film after school last minute meaning that we had less time to film and i couldn’t get home from school. I think I contributed well when we added sound to our preliminary task because I taught the others how to use Mixcraft to create sound effects and any other music we wanted. We all worked well when coming up with our story board and ideas for the preliminary task and no one was shy in contributing.

Evaluate your group’s contribution