Preliminary Exercise Evaluation

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

In my group, I had Bisma, Charlotte, Mary and Nisha. We split the task up into the different jobs people had to do such as acting, directing, sound and PA. I was sound, Bisma was directing, Mary was PA and Charlotte and Nisha were acting. The main reason we did this and didn't split up is because we had a set amount of time and it would have taken a lot of time to switch over roles in between shots. This way we got more shots done in the amount of time we had allocated than we could have if we had done it by swapping round. Also, it was difficult to find shots for each of the actors to direct/do sound/be PA as there were very few individual shots of them. I felt our group worked fairly well as after every shot, we all stood round the camera and analysed it and discussed whether it should be shot again and what should be done differently, such as highlighted a problem with the sound, the framing of the shot or what the actors should do differently.

2. How did youn plan your sequence? What processes did you use?

In our planning time, we produced an easily understandable storyboard showing each of the shots. We also produced a shooting script. This allowed us to allocate our time much more specifically and enabled us to see clearly which actors were needed at certain points, where we needed to shoot and the logical order in which they should be done. When we were filming, we found that the place we wanted to shoot our initial shots (the corridor) was also being used by other groups. When we found this, our shooting script enabled us to move on swiftly to where the next shots should take place and we took all of these until the corridor was free. We also had a walkthrough of what we were going to do in the place we were going to do it, if there were any, this would have highlighted some immediate problems and would have let us change our location early on, not while we were shooting.

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

When shooting, we used a Canon HDV30 camcorder with Mini DV, a tripod, an external mic and Sennheiser headphones. The use of an external mic enabled us to get better quality sound, while at the same time, allowing us to better focus on the direction the sound is coming from and not just have the action in front of the camera. The headphones we used to clearly hear exactly the sound that was being captured so we could reshoot if there was some unsuitable background noise such as a door closing, noise from behind the camera or someone talking elsewhere. The Canon HDV30 camcorder we used to shoot the entire sequence. The Mini DV made it easy to rewind and check our shots and then fast forward again to where we wanted to shoot from. When editing, we used Adobe Premiere. This makes non-linear editing possible. The program allows us to import our footage, take the shots and reorder them so they make sense. It also allows us to pick from a number of takes if some of the ones we thought weren't as good turn out to be better than the ones we originally liked.

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

When we were planning, we used storyboarding to construct an outline for what shots we needed and a rough idea of how it would look when it was finished. We also used it when editing so we knew what order the shots came in and how they would look next to eachother. We also had a shooting script. As we were able to use non-linear editing, we managed to shoot the shots in the most convenient order rather than chronolgically. We used this to plan what actors we needed when, what rooms we needed and how easy it would be to do these things. Also, with reference to the rooms, we had to make sure there was very little outside noise in the rooms so when we were filming in the classroom, we had a light on telling people how not to come in and tried not to catch anyone walking past outside the room. With this light, we had to keep it on when we took our shots in the hallway to keep in with the continuity. The hallway was another thing we had to organise. With there being a lot of groups filming in the same place, we had to organise who was going to film there and when.

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

I this overall, it was very successful with very few small errors. I feel the actual conversation itself was well shot and made sense with the right amount of gap between each person talking. The only things I can see that are wrong is that when she leaves the room, inone shot she tucks the chair in but in the next, the chair is out. We couldn't avoid this as we only realised this once we were editing and the alternate shots we had had bad sound and this happened to be the one that worked best. Another problem is the computer screen, in one shot there is a window open, the next there isn't and then there is. This is because for the conversation we used 3 different shots, an MS of the teacher talking, then an OTS then back to the MS. The very last thing I recognised was that as she walks into the room, from the outsoide, she pushes the door but from the inside, she has grasped the handle. This couldn't be edited any other way as this was the best shot we had of her walking into the room as it fitted well with the next shot of her sitting down.

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

I think when we film our actual project, from this, I have learnt that finding an available location that other people aren't likely to be is vital as we wasted a lot of time we could have been filming, waiting for other groups to finish using the hallway. Although I feel we did well when it came to having enough shots, we could have given ourselves even more options if we had taken them again. I feel that the shooting script and storyboard were very helpful and in future, they can't be overlooked for the actual project.