Perliminary Task

When creating our video for our preliminary task we used the ‘Canon Legria Camcorda Plus’ camera. During shooting our footage we had to be conscious of the brief of the task and consider the: camera movement, angles, focus, framing, and shot types, as well as Mise en scene and sound. When filming our shots we had to be aware of the 180 degree rule and the rule of thirds. We also had the opportunity to show off numerous skills we had learnt such as the Shot Reverse Shot (SRS) and Match on Action. We originally planned our preliminary task with a different storyline, which was sci-fi themed. Our animatic storyboard was drawn according to our first idea which we shot and edited using ‘Adobe Premiere.’  However once we did so we learnt we didn't have enough footage to fill the 30 seconds which were required as the minimum, and the story line didn’t appear as that interesting. We then made the decision to re film and change the story line  This time we based our idea around ITV2 Reality Show ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ which we thought would be more fun to film and interesting for viewers to watch.

I thought our production held many successes for example we correctly used several Shot Reverse Shots. When filming our material we filmed each piece of the conversation separately although once edited they appeared to flow together and shows continuity between the shots. We successfully used the 180 degree rule; as all characters appeared to remain in the same positions throughout filming which further shows continuity in shots. The performance of the actors reflects the theme of our video as they appear to have Essex accents. However on the other hand I feel as if we could have spent more time adjusting the sound when editing our film as I think at parts the music (non-diegetic sound) overpowers the speech of the characters. I also feel some cuts could be shortened to make the length of the film shorter and closer to 30 seconds. When editing our task we made sure we used the best shots we had e.g. a steady camera, clear speech and no laughter. We found the sound in the drama studio was clear and there was no non diegetic sounds to distract the audience from the character speaking. However when we filmed Ellie walking along the corridor there were unnecessary sounds coming from doors opening and other students, but I feel we recovered this quite well by overlapping it with the music we chose. I think the music we chose to use fitted well with the footage, as it was upbeat and quick paced. We stopped the music when Ellie arrived at the table this indicates tension and a change in mood. I thought we showed this very well. We didn't put any transitions between the shots as we thought it would break the continuity and not appear as natural. If we were to re do this task again I feel we could have spent longer editing our footage together as we only spent approximately an hour. I would spend more time carefully selecting the clips and shortening them to the shortest they could be.