My Preliminary Production

Evaluation Of Preliminary Production

During filming the preliminary production, I learnt many things, such as how to put tape into the camera, how to use the camera controls (such as record, playback and zoom) and how to adjust camera settings (adjusting the white balance, iris and focus). I also learnt how to set up the tripod, and adjust the height and angles on the tripod. Whist filming, I learnt how to pan, zoom and tilt. I have also learnt how to use Pinnacle Studio, and the effects on it, such as speed and adding text. I also know how to upload footage to Pinnacle.

Certain things that went well include the fact that Ben and Saqib were facing the opposite direction while on the phone to each other, this does not break the 180 degree rule, and so will not confuse the audience. I think the match on action worked well, as Saqib leaves the first shot and enters the next at the same place, helping the piece to run smoothly. Also, when Ben and Saqib meet up, they are wearing different clothes to when they are on the phone, as they are meeting up the day after the phone call. This helps the continuity. Another part that worked well is when we see Ben on the phone, but hear Saqibs voice supposedly through the phone. I edited this so the sound changes to a slightly more muted tone, helping it to seem like we are really hearing Saqib on the phone.

                Something that went wrong is that in some clips there was not enough time between me saying action and Ben and Saqib talking. This meant I had to cut the clips quite a large amount, making some of them seem quite snappy and too short. Another problem was that Ben and Saqib sometimes looked at the camera, making the piece seem unrealistic. Also, we did not film enough, as we do not have a full shot-reverse-shot, as we filmed over Saqib’s shoulder but not Bens.  The last shot is also far too long,  as it goes on for eight seconds. We should have split that filming, and made half of it the rest of the shot-reverse-shot. The eight second clip may seem very tedious and boring to an audience.

A good thing about working in a group was that we all got on well and so offered contributions that would help make the piece better, and listen to each other’s ideas on how we could improve filming.  We also took turns on filming, as Ben filmed Saqib talking, and vice versa, and me and Lucy filmed the final conversation. However, this meant that we did not get a lot of filming time each, and time to learn how to more effectively use the camera.

This production has helped me to learn how to use some of the equipment, change the settings on a camera, and edit in Pinnacle Studio.  This will help me in my AS production, as I will already know how to use the camera, and so save time as I will not have to re-learn it. It has also helped me to learn that we should film each shot a couple of times, as sometimes mistakes are not apparent whilst filming but they are when editing. Also that we should wait a few seconds after saying action before acting, and when the acting has finished to wait a few seconds before we cut the camera.

I am pleased that the whole process seemed to run smoothly, and that there are no colossal mistakes  or accidents that are apparent in the production. I am also quite happy with how much footage I was allowed to film, as this gave me quite a bit of time with the camera, allowing me to get used to working it.  The production itself went well as no scenes we entirely cut, and the piece makes sense.

               

Salutations

Hi I'm Abigail Ford and I'm currently studying Media Studies at Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School Sixth Form. This blog is to show evidence of my coursework and research go into producing a two minute opening of a thriller. Have fun.