Evaluation Activity 8

What targets will you set yourself for G324 next year – when you make a trailer?

Although I can see an improvement in our work since our preliminary, and am pleased with the opening we have produced, there is still room for a lot of room for improvement. As we found through the process of filming, we grew in confidence the more we did. Although this was annoying as it resulted in having to film the same scenes 2 or 3 times, it was also beneficial and helped to expand our knowledge. From the start of the process I can honestly say I knew close to nothing about the industry. All of the editing process and technology was new to me, and although I was aware of the different types of camera shots and their purpose, I had never actually put my knowledge into practice. Similarly, mise-en-scene and sound was a completely new aspect to me and while I knew that it existed, I had never really paid much attention to it. Having said this, the whole process has been something I have enjoyed, and feel that now I have a little more experience even though there is still a lot more to learn.

I think the my main error was over complicating everything. Being a bit of a perfectionist, I was not used to having to adapt and change my ideas so much, nor was I willing to take the simplest route. This was essentially my biggest downfall as it made the process less enjoyable for me because of all the added stress I unnecessarily caused. I think this was partly due to my inexperience as my group and I were not entirely sure what would work and what wouldn’t, which meant that quite a lot of things were accidental and unplanned due to our need to experiment. This was not always a downfall as sometimes ideas that we accidentally stumbled upon by experimenting were better than our own, however it meant that the majority of things were last minute and so they had to be rushed. As said earlier, this definitely was a steep learning curve and I think we learnt more from getting it wrong and having to redo it than we would have from just doing it all perfectly.

Next year, we will be planning a trailer so it will be slightly different, however there are many things we will do differently. Firstly, we will make sure we plan a lot more in advance, even if we are not entirely sure of some things. For example, we overcomplicated things even more than we needed to by not doing the simple, yet necessary things such as planning what time to film or the exact location in which the filming would take place. This wasted time and caused disagreements which certainly could have been avoided. In a similar way, we also need to make sure we do not leave everything to the last minute as again it causes unnecessary stress due to the need to meet deadlines, just because we decided to prioritise other things. I also think it would be beneficial to try and film in the shortest amount of time possible in order to avoid a change in weather or lighting which caused issues this time, and again could have been avoided.

I’m not sure if we will choose to change our genres next year. Again, I think we slightly overcomplicated things by using three genres, and I’m not sure whether we made this choice because we couldn’t decide or because we based it around a plot which we had already formed. I think our chosen genres were not the best choice for an opening scene because we didn’t have enough time to illustrate their expected stereotypes. In a similar way, we did not have the desired skills necessary to portray our genres to a standard in which we were happy with – we were unable to successfully create an action film which conformed to the genre due to our lack of experience. It might be easier to use these genres in a trailer as it shows smaller snippets of the genre, and allows more choice meaning we could conform to the parts of our genres which suited us best. On the other hand, it might be easier to change our genre to another such as horror, however this would involve more research and again would be completely new to us so might cause similar issues of inexperience.

To make progress next year, I think we need to focus more on the sound. We found that mise-en-scene was quite easy to incorporate successfully into our film, such as the use of costume and how it conformed to our genres, and camera composition was not too difficult after experimenting.  Sound on the other hand, was something we found much more difficult. This was partly because we were unaware of how to film the picture and the sound of the same device, and partly because we were unaware that we could have done it differently. After researching it, we came across ADR which stands for Additional Dialogue Replacement.  It is the process of replacing the dialogue in the scene when it isn't clear or there is a lot of unwanted background noise. This is something which I feel would have improved our film massively as the sound is not clear at all, however we chose to just cover it up with background music. We made this decision because we were already having difficulties editing our film, and felt that this was too complicated and definitely above our standards. Saying this, I think it is something we could work towards next year, and aim towards being able to incorporate it into our film as it is something which would certainly enhance its features.

Next year, I would like to set myself targets specifically aimed at the four technical areas, mise-en-scene, camera composition, editing and sound. I feel that by setting these, if I was able to follow them I would improve my knowledge and understanding of the subject which in turn would help me to produce work of a better quality. Firstly, for camera work I feel like I need to try and incorporate some of the technical areas within the category, such as being able to illustrate the 180 degree rule and match on action. This is something I have mastered before previously, however due to a combination of the plot and the genres, we did not feel, as a group, that incorporating would add to the production value. We probably could have adapted the plot purposely to suit the use of the technical methods; however we did not feel like we had time or were comfortable with making such changes. For next year, I feel like I just need more practising with the editing. By the end of our editing process we all felt a sense of achievement having grasped the equipment, and were certainly more confident using it however I feel like I need to experiment more in order to get full use out of all it has to offer. For example, the use of colour grading is something we could have incorporated more into our film, however did not have enough time to fully look in to the best ways of using it. This is something I would like to look into next year as I feel that by making small changes such as experimenting with the use of colour, it would have enhanced our project. 

Sound is definitely the area in which I have the most improvements to make. Firstly, I would like to learn how to record the sound in a way in which it would be suitable to use without having to spend a lot of time correcting it – i.e. by having to use ADR. I found that our sound was quite muffled and difficult to hear due to a mixture of all of the background noises which could be heard when filming.  Saying this, I would also like to learn how to use ADR in order to increase our choices and be able to use it if we wanted. Similarly, I need to pay more attention to the different opportunities I have in order to use a different variety of sounds, such as diegetic and non-diegetic. Finally, although I am pleased with the costumes that we used and think that they suited the genres well, I would like to experiment a bit more. We decided as a group that it would be best to try and conform to the stereotypes as much as possible as we felt that it would be easier to gain ideas in this way, and we have proof that the methods we followed had a successful past. I think it would be interesting to try and push our boundaries more next year, and create something new by ourselves rather than following the stereotypes so religiously. Although it may be easier to stick to the stereotypes, I feel like it would be more fun to produce something new and a bit quirky just to expand our knowledge and help us gain more experience.

Despite all this negativity, I am pleased with the opening scene we produced, and have enjoyed making it. The most important thing I have learnt from this process is to have more confidence in myself, not to over complicate things so much and to have more fun!

Evaluation Activity 7

     Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Having now completed our two minute opening scene, it is interesting and quite amusing to look back at our preliminary task from last year. It is clear that we have made improvements to our film making skills, and it is intriguing to see the comparison between the two as it allows us to understand how we have progressed and learnt from our mistakes. Although in most cases, our two minute opening is significantly better, it is still not entirely up to scratch, however from looking back at our preliminary task we are pleased with the improvements we have made and that we have been able to put what we have learnt into practice.

There are a large number of differences between our preliminary task and opening scene, such as the location, types of shots and different scenes; however this was mainly due to the very limited preparation and time we were given. I think the most distinct difference between the two is the filming location. As we were given the instructions for our preliminary task under short notice, we had very little choice over where to film, and chose our location more for practicality rather than anything else. This meant that the use of different shots we could use were also reduced, which shows significantly as the preliminary task is much more static and unrealistic. As you can see, this meant our preliminary was filmed in a classroom (the only one we could find available) whereas we purposely chose to use our protagonist's house for the opening scene. Similarly, we had no plot or script drafted, apart from the need to include “What are you doing here?” into the scene. Although the line that we needed to incorporate helped to give us structure, I also think it made it slightly more difficult to come up with an idea for the scene as it limited our choices and ideas. Despite this, the main focus point was the use of camera work and so this is what we chose to focus on.

The acting and plot line of the preliminary task paled in comparison with our final opening. As the preliminary task was solely conceived in less than an hour, there was minimal dialogue and we had little time to come up with anything. Although our main focus was the camera work, I feel that if we had more time to come up with a stronger plot line with more dialogue, we would have had the chance to incorporate different camera angles in order to suit the mood. Despite this, our opening two minutes has even less dialogue which may come as a surprise. From our preliminary task, we learnt that we were not convincing enough to successfully portray a polished screenplay with a greater performance if we included dialogue. Although our actors would have had more time to practice, it must be remembered that essentially, they are not actors and actually have minimal experience in the area. We felt that including dialogue would in fact devalue the production value, and furthermore, we did not feel that dialogue fitted, nor was necessary in our plot. With the opening two minutes, we have an almost complete storyline as an extension of the events whereas the preliminary task only existed as a stand-alone project. Similarly, the quality of our camera work was at a much higher standard due to the more advanced technology we used, which produced a more realistic lighting. This is illustrated through the yellowish colour the lower quality camera produced, combined with our lack of editing and colour grading. In our opening scene, a similar shot is shown through a much more realistic colour, which we purposely chose to make quite dull and cold in order to help illustrate the genres. 

Something we also took into greater consideration was the colour of the film. We didn’t even think about using colour correction and grading in our preliminary, mainly because we were unaware that even existed,  but partially because our time was restricted. I believed that we filmed our preliminary task in the wrong way because we decided to film each movement in different scenes and the edit them together whereas many other filmed theirs in just a few shots. Although our process was longer, it taught us more about the editing software and how we could cut and match our scenes in order to make them flow more effortlessly. Similarly, we paid greater attention to the use of colour in our opening.  Because of our other commitments and limited time, we were forced to film different scenes on different days. Evidently, the lighting differed slightly due to the different time and weather, which was more noticeable than we thought. To overcome this, we had to adapt our plot and change the time period it was set in, to make it look like she was running at dusk. This provided reasoning behind the change in lighting and colour of the shots, however did not solve the problem completely. We needed to use colour grading tools in order to try and lighten some scenes as they came our darker than they appeared on the camera. Due to both a combination of our knowledge and the skills of the software, the colour grading was not fantastic but it sufficed. This is definitely something we gained from experience and something which added and improved our opening scene from our inexperienced preliminary. As mentioned before, the different colours of the scenes were partly due to the quality of the camera, but also because of editing and the location. Due to our restricted time, we were forced to use a classroom for our preliminary, meaning we had very little choice on the lighting. Despite this, lighting was something we had very little experience with and I believe we didn't even take it into consideration at all. This is shown through the lighting across my face which detracts from the dialogue. Alternatively, we lowered the lighting using the colour grading tools in our final piece in order to make it seem less friendly and lower the mood, hoping to conform to our genres.

While we tried to employ the continuity and editing techniques we had been taught, we were inexperienced to say the last. The preliminary task turned out better than expected considering we didn’t know what we were doing, however when we came to editing it we were certainly aware of the mistakes we had made. One of the main things we had learnt was that we needed to start filming before we were actually ready, at then we could cut it down in the editing process. We were unaware that we could do this when we started which is why some of the cuts are very sharp and overly noticeable, which is something we didn’t want. We adhered to the conventional camera techniques in our preliminary task, such as match-on-action and shot reverse shot as the main purpose of the task was to practice and get used to using the techniques as they are so vital in successful films. We did try to employ the use of these techniques in our opening two minutes, however I don’t believed we used match-on-action anywhere near as much as stereotypically expected in action films it did not suit any of the scenes, and so we believed it would have been unnecessary just to add it in for the sake of it. We found that our preliminary task incorporated more of the typical camera techniques due to the heavy focus on camera work, whereas we found it more difficult to use of all the technical areas in our film as we had so much to concentrate on. Although we did pay attention to the camera techniques we used, we felt it they didn’t suit the plot very well and so focused on the different use of camera angles instead in order to prevent the scenes from looking static and unrealistic. Due to the genres and the pace of the film we also found we paid more attention to the 180 degree rule in our preliminary rather than in our opening two minutes.  This may have been because we were slightly more experienced and so were not forcing ourselves to use it as it came more naturally. Despite this, we did not  use this technique that much and although we could have adapted the plot to fit it in like the other techniques, we did not feel that it was necessary. 

Overall, we felt our preliminary task was instrumental in the creation of what we feel is a satisfactory opening sequence. This is because of the mistakes we made, such as cutting scenes short and the need for editing which enabled us to get to know the software and techniques, helping us to improve our knowledge and therefore produce a higher quality piece of work. Although many of the techniques we used did not come in useful in our opening scene, they did increase our knowledge of the industry and provided reasoning and understanding behind different features of films. I believe that the use and timing of these techniques is dependent on the genre and pace of the film, and for that reason found it unnecessary to involve them. However if the film had carried on and we had been allowed longer scenes, I’m sure we would have found good use for them. Without filming such a thing beforehand, we would not have acquired the skills and understanding that would allow our opening to succeed on various levels, and I think we are all pleased with the outcome, despite further improvements which could be made.