My evaluation

INTRO Media Evaluation .Docx;)

My Preliminary Task

This is my Preliminary task I filmed with Paige Lyons, Alex Cockburn and William Howlett. The preliminary task had to include a Match on action, the 180degree rule and Shot reverse shot.

Filming Description

How I found using the equipment

I found using the cameras quiet easy, the equipment is very self explanatory and it’s not hard to use as we didn't have to use a lot of different buttons and techniques on the actual camera. We used tripods for all of our film, I found these easy to use as you can easily change the height and direction the camera is pointing. When filming I used a tripod that was attached to a dolly. I made a mistake, as I kept it on the hole time instead of taking it off when I was finished, this made the final film look a bit off as the camera was at different angles. When filming with a tripod and dolly, I found it work well as it was easy to glide across the surface, although the final filming looks slightly shaky. We had to film a part that was down low and at a low angle. It was a tracking shot of the woman’s feet, this was hard as we had to use a dolly, but it was so low we had to attach the camera to the dolly, and then move it with our hands. We had film this with two people as one had to push the dolly and one had to pull to make it smooth.

What problems I faced while filming. Why?

When we were filming we didn’t have many problems as we filmed our piece twice. Our main problem was about the actors, we had planned to film it on a certain day, but one actor didn’t turn up so we had to change it slightly and this meant using someone from our group. This put us back a bit as we had one less camera man and her opinion wasn’t listened to as much as it would have been. This resulted us in having to re-film with different more reliable actors. For the first filming we had a few problems with filming the low shot with the dolly. The corridor we were using was to thin and the dolly didn’t fit correctly. We had to experiment and film the show a few times. Also when filming the first one we had a few problems with having the second camera in the shot. This was easily resolved and ended up working better. We had a few problems with the script, as we chose actors that would remember them well, but as they weren't fully learnt they did change slightly.

Did I have to change anything while filming?

We filmed two preliminary tasks; the first one followed our storyboard and script correctly. For the first filming it was a bit rushed and manic. When we watched it all back and started to arrange it in the right order, we found that it didn’t flow well and it looked really home made and not very smooth. We discussed with our teacher and came to the conclusion that we would film again and use different actors and a different script. We changed the area, so that it would make it easier to film. We changed the actors, so that it looked better and worked well. We also changed the positions of the camera, but keeping in mind the 180-degree rule.

Did I have to re-film anything? Why? What?

We had to re-film the whole thing, we were planning to only re-film some bits but after we realised that our piece wasn’t as good as it could be, we thought to re-film it all, changing parts and making it all better. We changed some parts slightly and added extra bits in; this also made our film slightly longer which enhanced it.

Did my group feel fully prepared for filming and how did I do this?

There wasn’t much to prepare for our piece, we collected all of our props before we filmed, by bring stuff in from home and collecting it throughout the day. We set up the scene by using a table from the room and used nice chairs from another room; we cleaned the area as much as we could, then we added the sign on the door. We had had a short filming course in one of our lessons and we had experimented with them once before we filmed. For our first filming we felt less prepared and were slightly scared. For the second time filming, the whole group felt allot more prepared.

How did my group work together?

I found that my group worked alight together, although it wasn’t the best. When we first filmed our task, I was really pleased that someone from our group put themselves up and became an actor. This was a big thing to do as she didn’t get as much filming time as she would have liked. The second time we filmed I felt that it worked a lot better. I also felt that I did a lot of the work and preparation before; the storyboard was made entirely by me and the first script we wrote we wrote together, although I am pleased that other members of my group started to change the script and make it fuller. I liked filming with this group but I don’t think I will be working with them all together again. 

What did I enjoy most when filming?

When filming I thought that the actual filming part was the best, when filming I found that I had to help guide what the other camera was doing. I tried not to overpower anybody and I don’t think they felt like they were, I just think they were grateful I could help. I really enjoyed the filming and following the actors, coming up with different ideas and different angles I could use.

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)

Storyboard

Ideas, Description including exam board criteria

To start the preliminary task our group had to come up with an original but clever idea that we would be able to include the requirements. Our group came up with an idea of having a sectary and school type film, but we realised this wouldn’t work and decided to use the same sort of genre but have it more as a investigation/crime. The piece included two people one which was a boy that was tied to a chair and tape around his mouth. The other character was of a woman in a smart uniform. The scene started with the woman walking down a corridor, this included a low angle shot which we thought we would use to show a different view. We then had the woman walking into the room; this is where we included our match on action as she had to open the door and walk through. We then used a panning shot to follow the woman while she went to take her seat at the table. On the other side of the table was the boy, this is where we had our shot reverse shot, the two characters were changing dialogue so we used shots of each of them and edited them with razor cuts. While filming all of this we made sure we used the 180 degree rule, by always staying on the left side of the characters. To make this slightly easier we made sure the table was closest to the right side of the wall, this way we couldn’t break the 180 degree rule.