Identifying and Evaluating Errors with Pecc Street Scene

By Courtney O’Donnell

There was little footage Morrighan smoking the cigarette whilst she was walking, which would be unlikely as the cigarette had just been lit and she was only filmed smoking in one shot. Therefore when we reshoot this scene, I will instruct Morrighan to incorporate the smoking into her walking.

We did not light the cigarette prop, as the vintage Zippo lighter we brought with us ran out of gas. Therefore we did not film Morrighan lighting the cigarette like we had planned to, but just filmed Morrighan turning and taking the cigarette away from her mouth. However it is noticeable in the extreme close-up of Morrighan smoking that the cigarette is not lit; making the shot less authentic to the traditional Film Noir style. The smoke from the cigarette would have also been an authentic Film Noir convention, therefore when we reshoot, we will be sure to check that our lighter is working so that we can light the cigarette.

When Morrighan steps on the cigarette once she is finished smoking it, it is the same length as when it was first lit; however if she has been smoking it, it should have burnt out and be much shorter. This was due to the lighter we were using not working, which meant that the cigarette could not burn down at all. As we will be bring a working lighter with us for the reshoot, this should not be a recurring issue for us.

Pixelation and overall poor camera quality has been a major problem with our OTS footage, as the cameras we were left with to use were bad quality compared to the others in our class. This effected our footage, as it is difficult to depict what the shot is showing, and is not very aesthetically pleasing to an audience. To prevent this when we reshoot, we will film at an earlier time so that the natural lighting is brighter. We would still like to film when it is moderately dark, to signify that this scene of our OTS is at night. We will also look into borrowing a better quality camera to film for this scene which will not produce so much pixelation.