Preliminary Exercise

1. Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?

• Natasha, Ella, Joseph
• We had a meeting
• Did shooting schedule, storyboard, script, planning
• Switched roles. Me + Ella were actors, so Joseph + Natasha were mainly directing or sound/lighting technicians.

2. How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try to take into account?

• We did a walk-through to see if there would be enough room to shoot, the acoustics would be right, the lighting would look good and the camera could actually be placed where we wanted.
• Planning-paperwork (storyboarding+shooting schedule+script very important to know what we were doing)
• Levi-Strauss theory of binary opposites (normal vs. strange with Ella+I)

3. What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?

• Hardware:

1. Canon HDE Camera
2. Mini DV Tape
3. Shotgun Microphone
4. Tripod

• Software

1. PC based digital editing suite
2. Adobe Premiere Pro (razor tool to cut sections, output monitor and source monitor to see what is actually being shown, video and audio timelines to differentiate between shots, onboard titling software for text, rubber bands to edit sound and create fades, dragging and dropping etc.)

4. What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?

• Time management- make sure we can shoot and edit in the given time slots. Storyboarding and the shooting schedule helped with this, as we could work efficiently with a plan.
• Location-for camera, for tripod, for actors
• Restrictions-with the location as we had a classroom to work with, not a set. Also with time, as we had an hour to shoot and an hour to edit.
• We had to take into account what we are shooting and remind ourselves that there are requirements and not too stray too far from the brief as this would create more work for ourselves than is needed.

5. How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and what with hindsight, would you improve/do differently?

SUCCESSFUL POINTS:

• We met the brief and fulfilled all parts.
• The sequence flows.
• We had two match-on-actions (opening the door and me running away), so we gave a little extra.
• The sequence is 26 seconds, so it is short and not too long and boring, we fit everything in without shooting too much.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Immediately at the beginning, Ella walks in without opening the first door so it looks to rehearsed. We should have filmed from outside of the room first to look more realistic.
• I seem like a strange character, but we didn't really explain to the audience why that was. We could have explored character types more in depth.
• When Ella is talking, her hand switches positions between cuts which distracts the audience and takes away from the continuity of the sequence.

6. What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will ths learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?

• 180 degree rule and 30 degree rule-makes shots look good on screen so they don't appear jumpy to the audience.
• This exercise re-inforced the importance of planning as the storyboard, script and shooting schedule were so helpful and reduced the time we needed to shoot.
• I learnt just how important it is to shoot EVERYTHING, as even the smallest details could be necessary, as we noticed when editing.
• I learnt about the roles in media and how each person has a responsibility that contributes hugely to the production of film.
• I saw how a walk through can be very useful, as if we hadn't done one, we would have wasted time when shooting on shots that would have been to hard to shoot.

Group 2C