Media Evaluation

Media Evaluation

Filming

I found the equipment quite easy to use as all the controls were rather simple to understand, I hadn’t used it before but I feel I got used to it quickly after some practise. I had to play around with it for a bit to get used to how it worked but once I understood I was confident when using the camera. The dolly we used when filming our feet walking down a corridor was quite difficult to use because it was hard to get in time. Either we’d push the dolly too quick or our actor would walk too quickly so this took a while to get right. I found zooming in and out difficult because it was hard to keep the camera steady it kept shaking so I practised for a bit to try and get a steadier hand and after a while I was beginning to get a lot better at it. I found setting up the equipment was quick and easy to do. We had to film our piece twice because we were not happy with our first piece you could see that we were not confident with filming but after filming the second time after we had done more work with cameras there was a massive difference it was a lot less shaky and just overall a much better production.

There were various problems I faced when filming my preliminary task for example I referred to the dolly being difficult to use when filming our actors feet walking down a corridor because it was hard to get in time the dolly kept moving too fast or too slow this took us a while to perfect, another problem with the dolly is that when we watched back the shot of the feet walking down the corridor the dolly made a lot of noise this caused us to have to remove the sound from the shot meaning we had to artificially make the sound of high heels walking on a hard floor this also took us quite a while to do right. Another problem we faced was that in some of the shots we took we could see the other camera in the corner so we had to rearrange where our cameras were positioned so that this was not a problem. When we filmed one of our shots our tripod that we used was too low we needed it to go higher so we had to mess around with the tripod to try and work out how to make it higher. The final problem we faced was when we were filming our match on action when our actress walked through the door into the interrogation room we didn’t want to see our other actor in the shot so we had to film her walking through the door stop filming but leave her in exactly the same position then continue to film from the other side this took a few attempts to get right but I feel we did it very well.

When we filmed our first piece we didn’t change anything we stuck completely to the script but when we watched it, it just wasn’t interesting and rather boring so we re-wrote our script to make it more exciting and more realistic. We also had to change our actors because our original one was not able to come in on the day we were filming, we changed some of the camera shots we panned the camera round to our actress walking towards the door this looked really good it made our film much more realistic and interesting to watch and we could add this shot to our evaluation. We made our actress walk around the victim in one shot we did this because we just wanted to add a much more threatening tone to our film. We also changed the amount of shots we took when filming the second time we filmed a lot more and redid the same shot many times so that when it comes to editing we have a wide selection of which shots to use.

We re-filmed our whole production because we were not happy with it at all the shots were all wrong and the cameras were shaky, we weren’t happy with the environment we filmed it in because the corridor was difficult to work in and there wasn’t enough space for our cameras because we kept seeing the other camera in our shots. We gained a lot from re-filming because we knew what we needed to do differently and improve. I was happy that we re-filmed because I feel our second production was a lot better due to our camera shots the more space the environment it was just better in every way. We also re-filmed it because we felt the script was poor and lacked enthusiasm that we wanted in our piece.

I feel my group did fully prepare for the  filming the second time round however the first time round we were not as focused and we did not share as many ideas we were much more confident to say what we thought would look good the second time round. We prepared well by getting our actors ready and by getting our costumes and location right. I feel we were much more prepared the second time because we had all used the cameras before so we knew what we were doing now whereas the first time we needed to spent time getting our heads around how to use the equipment and where certain shots should be taken from. I also feel we were much more prepared the second time because we showed our actors their script before we began to film this way they had time to get in character and sounded a lot more confident when speaking because they knew the script well. The second time round we actually discussed before we filmed, what we were going to film from where and who would be filming what.

I personally feel that our group worked really well together during filming we all had certain roles and all knew what we were doing. We had discussed beforehand who was filming what so we flowed really well, we communicated well and shared ideas that helped our production we would all say our personal views on each shot to see whether everyone was happy with it and what could be improved. It seemed everyone was happy with what they were doing. If someone was not filming for a bit they would watch us and tell us what they think and what we could do better. If I forgot what I was supposed to be doing I could ask someone from my group and they would know because we had discussed everything before hand so as a whole I think my group worked well as a team.

I enjoyed the whole experience of filming and cannot wait until the next time we film a piece but out of it all the part I enjoyed the most would have to be panning I really enjoyed this I felt I was good at it and it was the part I was most confident with. I feel that this was what I was best at.

The Film

This is our final film for our perlimary task

Story Board

Script

(Hands sorting through pieces of paper and comes across one saying top secret. Jumps to a shot of the Woman’s feet walking across the ground then a shot to the man trapped tied in the room followed by feet walking on the floor again. Jumps to a mid shot of the woman walking towards the door then jumps to showing the man tied up again then show’s her opening the door and walking through the other side, she then walks around the man and sits down opposite him)

Woman: Are you willing to Cooperate Mr Gregg’s?

Man: (Mumbling)

Woman: (Stands up and walks towards the man and pulls his head back) I said are you willing to cooperate Mr Gregg’s?     

Man: (Mumbling)

Woman: (slides onto the desk opposite him and rips the tape off of his mouth) Tell Me Greggs!

Man: NO! I’ll never break the 210 code!

Woman: (slaps him) Tell me!

Man: you’ll have to kill me first

Woman: (walks round him and whispers in his ear) well if that’s the way you want to play it…. (starts to put tape back on)

Man: Ok!Ok! I’ll talk!

(Woman walks over to the chair opposite and sits there smiling)

(Fades Out)

Description Of My Ideas For The Task

For my primary task we were asked to create a short piece of continuous media that contains a math on action shot a shot reverse shot and a short dialogue.
 My ideas for my primary are to simply film someone walking down a corridor through and door, sit at a table and have a conversation. I will start by using a close up of a woman’s heels walking down a corridor; I will use a dolly for the camera to sit on to follow the woman’s feet all the way down the corridor as she walks. I will then hold the camera and use a crane shot moving up her body to reveal her. Then I will use a ‘match on Action’ shot to view her walking through the door from the outside then switch to the inside insuring I stick to the 180 degree rule to make sure the audience is not confused. The woman will then take a seat at a table. There will then be a close up of a man tied to a chair with tape round his mouth I will then slowly zoom out to reveal where he is. I will take an over the shoulder shot as the woman talks to the man and a shot reverse shot as the conversation continues. The shot will stay continuous, at the end of the scene the screen will fade to black.