Preliminary Task – Filming Evaluation:

What was done?

After planning the plot of our Preliminary Task we began filming the various shots that we were including in our task. We had an hour to complete the filming for our preliminary task and were told that the video should demonstrate match on action, shot reverse shot, 180° rule and an over the shoulder shot. When planning we incorporated these shots into our storyboard and used it as a guide when filming. We filmed the task using a tripod and video camera in a separate room to ensure that there would be no other people in our shots. The tripod enabled us to reduce camera shake and make our film look more professional. In order to include the range of filming techniques we needed in our film we took a large amount of shots to create match on action and shot reverse shot scenes as well as trying to include a range of other filming techniques in our film to make it more interesting such as panning and tilting.

 

What went well?

When filming our Preliminary Task the majority of it went to plan. We managed to film the task within the set hour and included all of the set filming techniques that we were asked to demonstrate within the film. The match on action was filmed so that it could be easily edited together to show the person walking through the door as one fluid movement. This was also done with the shot reverse shot filming to ensure that when edited the shots were easily put together for the final film. We also ensured that we followed the storyboard so that we used the correct filming techniques and camera shots that we had decided to use when planning. We also used a range of different camera shots when filing such as a Medium Shot, Long Shot, Two Shot and a High Angle Shot. We also included a Pan/Track and Tilting when filming to make the film more interesting once edited together.

This is screenshot from the finished video showing the use of a long shot when filming.

 

These screenshots show the two match on action shots we included in our film to show the actress walking through the door into the other room.

This screenshot shows the scene where the actress walks across to room. This is also the scene where we used tracking to follow the actress as she moved.

This scene is where we used tilting and a high angle shot to show the vulnerability of the girl on the floor.

What problems did we encounter?

We didn’t encounter many problems when filming our Preliminary Task. The camera had full battery and the SD card had plenty of space so we had no technical issues with the equipment we needed to film our task. However, we did have problems finding an empty room and an area to film to video in as we wanted to ensure that we had no other people in the background when filming to make it look more professional. We also had to ensure that we didn’t distract other classes nearby when filming our task by making sure that we were quiet and didn’t cause distractions. However, as we were filming in an area where other classes were being taught, we had a problem with background noise as other people talking can be heard in the background of some scenes, in order to sort this we detached the sound in Final Cut Pro and deleted the sound all together as it wasn’t needed.

What would we do if we did it again?

If we were to complete this task again we would ensure that we focused more on the compositions of some camera shots as in the shot reverse shot scene the top of the actresses head was cut off in the frame, making the final seem less professional. We also decided that we would redo our match of action scene of the actress walking through the door into the room as we only included two shots. We feel that it could be further improved by adding more shots of the actress walking through the door by adding shots of her hand pushing the door open, which would also allow us to include more camera shots such as extreme close ups and a point of view shot.

This shot was from the scene where shot reverse shot was used and was the scene where we cut off the actresses head at the top.