My Prelim Evaluation

This is the video of my finished Preliminary Exercise.

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

Me (left), Emilio (middle), and Jack (right)

On this project I worked with Jack Edmondson and Emilio Francischelli . I felt that we worked well as a team and split up the jobs evenly between ourselves.

Us working on the storyboard

We worked well together in the planning stage, and were all able to throw in our own ideas. We worked as a democracy deciding everything between ourselves in a democratic fashion. This worked well as we were able to quickly come up with a premise for a story. Our own personalities were able to bounce off each other, helping us to add humor to our sequence as well.

Me and Jack in shot, with Emilio behind the camera.

When filming we took roles that worked to our strengths. Jack and I mostly acted, whilst Emilio was in charge behind the camera. Even though we mostly stayed in our comfort zones, we all had a go at filming our shots.

Me when I was editing.

Emilio and Jack editing.

As there were three of us we split into a pair and a single. Emilio and Jack went together, as their time tables synced, so they could work well together. Whilst I edited by myself. Even though I enjoy working as a group I liked editing by myself, as it allowed me to fully explore my own artistic ideas, whilst not having to worry about someone else's schedule.

Overall I feel that we worked really well together as a group and were able to create a good continuity sequence, which fitted to our brief.
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2. How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try to take into account?

We started off with our brief to make a short sequence involving filming and editing someone opening a door, crossing a room, and exchanging a few lines of dialogue with another person in the room. From this we made some brief notes, on story, and a preliminary script.

Our original notes

We used our blank notes to then create a storyboard for our sequence. This was really useful, as it allowed us to play with the order of shots, and gave us an idea of how it would all fit together. We were also able to do a recky of the locations, and block out our shots. On the storyboard we were also able to see the different set-ups we needed, and were able to create a shoot-order taking into account our actors and locations.

Our storyboard with shoot order.

When planning our shots we also took into account the main continuity theories. We made sure to include the 30 degree rule by zooming in when filming from the same angle to avoid jump cuts, the 180 degree rule by not crossing the line between our actors especially when using shot-reverse-shot, match-on-action by filming everything from each set-up allowing a smooth narrative flow, and shot-reverse-shot which was useful when filming the conversation. We also used the classic narrative pattern, by splitting our shoot board into three sections, beginning, middle and end.

Overall I feel that our planning was very successful and we worked well together as a group to create a good video for our prelim.

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

This is a table showing all the equipment we used for our continuity sequence.

Equipment	Evidence	Pros and Cons
Cannon Legria HFG 30 Camera		The camera was good, as it shot in high definition, and was very easy to use and easy to control. It focused well, and could detach from the tripod, allowing us more low angle and close up shots. This was probably our most usefull piece of equipment as we used it to film and view all of our shots.
Cannon DM-100 Microphone and Headphones		The microphone and headset allowed us to hear the sound that would be in our shot, and we used it to be able to check the volume of sounds. Worked well, and picked up our voices well. However, it would have been nice to just detach it, and leave it in one place, as the volume of our voices kept changing, and was a problem during editing.
Libec TH-650 HD Tripod		The tripod was really useful, as it enabled us to easily get pans and tilts. The legs also extended easily so that you can get a range of heights, whilst using the spirit level to keep it level. We used the tripod to film almost all our shots, as it gave the camera a firm position.
Adobe Premiere Pro		This was an extremely useful bit of software that we used to edit. The different video and audio tracks allowed us to do multi-track editing. We were also able to see all our takes in one place, and edit them down to a general length of time, before we edited them more closely.

All the equipment we used was really useful, and was able to let us fulfill our brief, and realize our artistic ideas.
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4. What factors did you have to take into account when planning shooting and editing.

We encountered a few problems when filming and editing that we had to work around and that caused us to have to rethink some of our ideas.

The main factors that affected our planning, shooting and editing processes were the time restrictions put on us in the brief. This meant that we only had an hour to plan, and an hour to shoot. This was our major challenge, as there is only so much you can shoot in an hour. We also had the limitation of location and everything that comes when shooting in a school. Such as avoiding the bell or trying to not get any of the outside noises in (like other pupils). Shooting in the classroom had its own limitations as, even though we had lots of room and a wide area to film in, we also had to take into account the furniture as shooting in an overtly school setting also affected what story we could do believably. This is one of the reasons we chose to do a teacher, teacher conversation. Since we were filming at the same time as group 4 we also had to arrange with them when we would both use the corridor for filming. This affected our shoot order, but wasn't that big an issue in the long run.

I feel that we worked well at countering the problems we were faced with, and feel that without some of these restrictions our film wouldn't be what it is, as they lead us to think more deeply into what we were shooting and what the story should be.
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5. How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently?

I feel that our sequence was overall very successful at meeting the brief, as we created a sequence of someone opening a door, walking across a room and having a short conversation, whilst adhering to the three continuity theories we were told to use, shot-reverse-shot, match-on-action, the 180 degree rule, and also using continuity editing techniques.

I was really pleased with how some of the shots turned out using match-on-action (like the one below). I felt like I was really able to create a smooth transition between the shots, which helped to stimulate a sense of narrative flow. I also felt that the sound bridges in my sequence really helped to make the sequence seem less jumpy, and flow well. The fact that some of the sound was a bit dodgy was also counter balanced by the fact that we filmed the lines from different locations, so we could use the audio from different shots to make things more smooth.


I was also quite pleased with our use of shot-reverse-shot in the conversation, as I felt it created a good sense of narrative flow, and helped the conversation to not seem too jumpy. However at one point it could have been better, as a shot of Mr Johnson seemed slightly cut off by the next shot of Mr Spatula (below).


We adhered to the 180 degree rule by always keeping to the left of Mr Johnson, and also the right of Mr Spatula, this worked well at showing the direction of movement and conversation between both characters, and I felt this worked well.

In Hindsight, I would have got rid of the third shot, and just have Mr Spatula walk past the door in shot 2 (sequence shown below). This is because the sequence just gets a bit too prolonged, with the audience expecting something to happen in shot 2, but nothing actually happening.


Another problem I would like to have dealt with is the change in my eye positions in the close ups, as they don't match all the way through the sequence, and can make it feel slightly jumpy and ill thought out.

My original line of sight.

My line of sight later on in the sequence.

However overall I am really pleased with the way my sequence turned out, and think it was successful in meeting the demands of the brief.



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

I feel that throughout this task we have all been able to get a better understanding of how continuity filming really is.

Doing this project has really put into perspective how much work is going to go into our main project this year, of making the opening 2 minutes of our own fictional film. It has given us an idea on the time we will need to shoot, as this sequence wasn't even one minute, but the main one has to be 2 minutes long. This shows that we will need over twice the amount of time we filmed just for the filming alone. Also in our main project there will be much more things to consider when planning, such as much larger locations to deal with, genre, story and much more specific costumes and sets. It has also taught us the necessity to film everything from each position, just so that you are able to create good transitions and narrative flow between shots. This project was essentially a mini-version of our film opening project, and it allowed us to see what we could do better next time. Like line of sights in close ups, and making sure all shots are used to their full potential, and that none are wasted.

In conclusion I am really pleased with how my Preliminary exercise has turned out, and I feel that I am now much more confident in the run-up to our main project this year.
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HW 3b - Existing Film Continuity Sequence Analysis (BLK)

This sequence uses the rules of continuity editing to create flow throughout the sequence.

• At 0:26 there is an example of the thirty degree rule, as each shot of quicksilver is at least 3o degrees different to the last. This reduces the possibility of jump cuts. The use of the 30 degree rule continues throughout the rest of the sequence.
• We can see the use of match-on-action at around 1:07 with quick silver running across the exploding floor. His movement matches up in the two shots, helping to give the sequence flow. This also helps us to suspend our disbelief as he moves naturally, and there aren't huge jumps in his movement.
• This sequence also has many ellipses, allowing us to fill in the gaps in his movement, whilst still letting the action seem believable. In many of the shots quick silver runs off and back on from the same direction, which works as a kind of match-on-action for the ellipses, as it makes sense that the directions match.
• In each of the separate rooms, as he runs through them, we get establishing shoots, usually using a slow pan, to follow his progress through the school and also accentuate how slow real life is in comparison.
• At the end when real time returns we get sound-bridges of the children's screams to help create flow and show that everything is happening simultaneously, as well as creating a 'seamless' editing effect.
• We can see an example of shot-reverse-shot at around 1:44. Here it is used to show quicksilver's reaction to the boys face adding comedy to the sequence as well as maintaining a good narrative flow.
• Throughout the sequence we follow quicksilver's sound perspective, and the use of Sweat Dreams helps to work as a sound bridge throughout all the shots creating a good sense of narrative flow and story progression.
• However there is a continuity error in this sequence. When quicksilver carries the dog through the building we briefly see rooms, such as the entrance hall, which we have already seen get destroyed in the explosion.

HW 3a - Continuity Task Evaluation (BLK)

1. A girl (played by Kristina) is walking down the corridor on her phone, and accidentally walks into a door.
2. We tried to create narrative flow by following Kristina down the corridor, each shot would start from where the last one left off, so it didn't feel like we were jumping back and forth down the corridor. The fact that we were also constantly changing perspective helped to distract the audience from any errors in her position in the corridor.
3. I feel that we created a good feel of continuity however the transition between the third and fourth shot were a bit sketchy, and didn't feel like the natural flow. Other than that I think that we did well in creating a feeling of continuity throughout our shot.
4. I think that the third shot and the final shot could do with a bit of trimming at the end of each shot. Also i feel that we should have thought more about sound, as we get some weird mic noises at the beginning of most shots. 

HW 2c - Sound in Film Openings (DYM)

DIALOGUE:

• This opening sequence has no dialogue.
• In the beginning it adds to the suspense of the film, with the big build up to when he entered the temple.

SOUND EFFECTS:

• The beginning of the sequence starts with the futuristic whirring of the letters coming on to the screen. This helps to set up the fact that this is a sci-fi film.
• From when peter sets foot on the planet  we get the ambient sounds coming from the surroundings, and all the sound effects become diagetic from this point on.
• From the entry to the planet we follow peter's sound perspective. This helps to place us there on the planet with him, emphasising how dangerous it is, and assisting us to suspend our disbelief.
• Throughout the sequence we also get lots of futuristic, sciency sound effects, like the whir of the scanner, and the clink of his helmet coming off. Many of these sounds are quite familiar to us and help to place us in the filmic world.

MUSIC TRACK:

• The music starts off creating a tone of suspense and awe through the use of very Indiana Jones-esque strings and choirs, building up to the entry into the temple.
• The music at the beginning is non diagetic, but when Come and get your Love starts the music becomes diagetic, signifying that this is the real tone and mood of the film, and what came before wasn't real.
• The main title of the film comes in with the beginning of the lyrics in Come and get your Love.
• The use of the classic music throughout the opening sequence helps to indicate how important peter's music is to the film, being a mcguffin to set up several story points, and also being a comedic relief.
• Come and get your Love helps to connote the humour of this film, as it contrasts strongly with the music before hand and peter's surroundings.
• The music then cuts out, with a zoom into a shot of the orb. This insinuates that this will be the main mcguffin of the film, and holds some special power.

HW 2b - Analysis of Titles in Film Openings (DYM)

Skyfall Timeline

• The opening sequence features non-diagetic music, and exaggerated graphics. This helps to set it apart from the rest of the film. 
• The stylized  opening helps to set the tone of the rest of the film, as it uses lots of shadow, and graphics which connote James Bond, such as smoking guns, drinks, and beautiful women.
• The opening also shows the villain of the film, Silva, as we see him in one shot holding a smoking gun.
• The dark blue color scheme mixed with red helps to emphasise the dark tone of the film.
• The running order is important as from it we can see that the most important actors come first, with the important people behind the camera, like Sam Mendez coming last.

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Godzilla Timeline

• The sequence starts with images of mythical creatures and dinosaurs, this helps to set up the idea of 'the monster'
• The opening also uses lots of graphics reminiscent of the C.I.A, like the redacting of words. It also has images of the C.I.A's more controversial projects, like Project Monarch (a part of MKULTRA), it also shows images of atomic bombs. These help to suggest it may be the American Government's fault for whatever happens, and that it has to do with atomic tests.
• The fast paced music helps to set up the tone of the film, with it connoting sirens like those before an disaster, or atomic test.
• We also get to see a bit of Godzilla, with the government looking like they are trying to bomb him.

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• Both sequences have a very definite running order, with in both cases the actors being very close to the beginning of the sequence, and the more important behind the scenes people, such as the director being right at the end.
• However in Godzilla we do get the institutions before the actors, and the title of the film doesn't come until the end.
• The music is also used in both cases to set up the tone of the film, with the Godzilla music connoting danger, but Skyfall connoting mystery and espionage.
• The images in each sequence are also very important for the setting up of main story points, and help set  the tone and style of the films
• Both title sequences also set up the villains of each film, the government in Godzilla, and Silva in Skyfall.
• Skyfall however has a lot more credits than Godzilla, and is a longer title sequence, as if the focus in Godzilla is on the individual actors, but in Skyfall it is focusing on the whole movie as a production and showing how much work went into the film.

HW 2a - Existing Opening Sequence Analysis (DYM)

1. The film is Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) Its genre is comedy/spy movie. The comedy comes from all the silly unrealistic dancing, and the comedic music as a satire of the common perceptions of 'The Swinging Sixties'. We can connote spy film from Doctor Evil's line at the beginning.
2. The opening takes place in London in the 1960's and also in doctor evil's lair. The opening follows events in real time, there aren't time jumps. This helps to accentuate the comedy, as whilst doctor evil is planning Austin's assassination, he is dancing round London.
3. Dr Evil states that he is going to assassinate Austin Powers. It then skips to London, where Austin is dancing through the streets, soon he is being chased by a group of fans and has to hide in a phone box, and behind a magazine with his face on it. His attempts to hide are futile and ends up fleeing round a corner. He comes back leading a marching band and begins a big dance sequence in the middle of the street. He then flips into a union jack car being driven by Mrs Kensington. The sequence of events are important as they set up how well known and whimsical Austin Powers is, contrasting against Dr Evil's very slightly more serious tone.
4. All the events are connected, except for Dr Evil's scene at the beginning, which aims to set up the story and is very unconnected to the London streets.
5. Dr Evil, Austin Powers, and Mrs Kensington are introduced. Dr Evil is very easily characterized as the classic bond-esque villain, with his white cat and scar on his face. Mrs Kensington is connoted as the 'bond girl' character. Austin is shown to be the main protagonist, as the majority of the opening is focused on him and his whimsical exploits.
6. Not much story information is revealed, except for the setting up of the main character's and that Dr Evil is going to try and assassinate Austin. We also learn from the graphics that it is set in London. We can surmise from the clothing and constant pop-culture references that the film is set in the 'swinging sixties'. Overall this opening sequences is quite separate from the rest of the film.
7. I think that all the audience needs to know is the whimsical tone and comedy of the film, with the actual story not needing to come in till after the opening sequence. However i feel that the idea that Austin is going to be assassinated adds to the humor of the opening sequence, as you question why anyone would want to assassinate him.

HW 1b - Reflections on my Film Still (BLK)

My chosen film still

1. My chosen genre for this shot was thriller. I feel this is connoted well through the use of the hand, as the audience expect it to belong to a dead body. Also the more industrial location can be quite common of many thriller films.
2. We used a lot of trial and error to get the hand into the position best visible to the camera. We also used the mini lights to illuminate the hand, making it stand out more, but using the softer filter on the light so as not to make the lighting look unnatural. Also the slight tilt of the camera helps to give an idea of this all being wrong, as if there shouldn't have been a murder
3. We were trying to communicate the idea that someone has been murdered. We did this through the hand, as it insinuates the presence of a dead body through the audiences' expectations. The hand also contrasts well with the rough setting, creating the idea that the body shouldn't be there, and that this was no accident.
4. I really like the way we were able to have the hand just visible through the gap in the containers, as i feel it was more effective than just having the whole dead body. I also like the way the hand is lit to make it stand out more, but not to make it look to unnatural.
5. In hindsight I would have the shot more zoomed in, so that the hand is the main focal point of the shot, as the audience has to work to pick out where the focal point is in the shot.

HW 1a - Existing Film Still Analysis (DYM)

My chosen shot to analyse from Super 8 (2011)

NARRATIVE:

• The Characters seem to be in a state of shock, with many of their mouths open, at something that is happening off-screen. Perhaps some sort of disaster.
• The bright clothing of the characters and their youthfulness contrasts with the dark surroundings and the looks of shock suggesting they may be somewhere they aren't meant to be.
• The sound equipment and camera suggests that they were involved in some sort of film shoot before whatever the disaster is happened.
• The positioning of the characters in the shot helps to connote that this may be an ensemble cast, with the boy in the far left of the frame being the leader, as he is closest to the camera.
• The positioning of the girl and the boy in the blue jacket in the middle of the frame suggests they may also be important, whilst the boy on the far right of the shoot may be the least important as he is so far from the others.
• The fact that the characters are at a train station suggests this may be the location of a big change in the story, the characters may be at some sort of metaphorical crossroads.

GENRE:

• The use of moderately advanced technology for this time period, the sound equipment and camera, suggests it may be a Sci-fi.
• The use of bright blue lighting and a lens-flare also connote this as they are conventional of the sci-fi genre. Lens-flares are also a technique that the director, J.J.Abrams, is specifically known for using in some of his bigger sci-fi films such as Star Trek (2009)
• The use of these sci-fi techniques contrast with the retro 80's style of the film as well suggesting something may be out of place. Connoting maybe a 'lost alien' style film, feeling like a twisted take on E.T. (1982).

AUDIENCE:

• The retro style is very reminiscent of the 80's and suggests that this is a good film for people who enjoy the style of the time period.
• The sci-fi techniques connote that this would be a good film for fans of sci-fi films, specifically higher budget films.
• The lens-flares connote this as being a very J.J.Abrams-centric  sci-fi film, perhaps similar to some of his other popular films like Star Trek (2009).
• The fact that all the cast members in this shot are all teenagers suggests that this film is targeted to younger audience, whilst the darkness, and seriousness of the shoot suggests that it is targeted towards teenagers more than very young children.