Preliminary Assessment - Katie Mckeag

 Use of the Camera

In our preliminary assessment we used a tripod throughout shooting to keep our shots steady. On doing this it made on clip more collected and professional, there was no camera shaky or dodgy angles. To make our clip better we decided on a wide range of shots, over-the-shoulder, long shot, mid shots, etc.

When making sure our shots were framed correctly we used the grid that can be shown on the camera. We used it to help make sure none of our shots were misleading or confusing to a viewer. You can see we used this on one of the first shots; this is where Alex (a member and actor in the clip) is sat on the steps and goes to throw the pendant. Here you can see he has lead room; this is when an actor is shown on the either the left or right hand of the screen and space is available for them to walk into on the opposite side. We gave him lead room to show that he was going to walk into the space provided, rather than setting him in the middle and panning across.

Use a variety of shots

Use composition techniques

Use of Editing

Continuity editing is important when making a film clip, whether it’s for 40 seconds or an hour’s worth; so it was just as important for us to consider. I believe we applied the rules of continuity editing throughout own our clip. With our other clips we had slight problems with making each flow as well as it could of; here we made sure we did a better job and took it into more consideration. We created a storyboard and shot list to help make this even easier. As well as this we did a ‘master shot’ when shooting as this helps when it comes to editing. When editing we made sure we cut each shot at the most appropriate time and for them all to flow together; we didn’t want any jump cuts that would annoy an audience when watching it. I believe our continuity editing was done quite well. Like it was pointed out, we hadn’t done so well at this before but I feel this was our best by far by doing it carefully and with all group members’ opinions on this part especially.

We also choose appropriate editing transitions when putting our shots together. We didn’t use many effects as it was just a short 40 second clip and it wouldn’t have looked right. We did however use sound effects but not too many. We used a wind effect as you could already see leaves blowing around in view, as well as the pendant blowing in the trees. As well as the wind we used a ‘scary accent’ when it came to the shot of the pendant. We knew as a group that in the film we were recreating the pendant was the significant part within it, and that it was something that brought fright. Adding the scary accent put emphasis on its importance. Having the sound also proves as evidence that we knew how to add and cut it on the software. Apart from sound we didn’t use any other transitions; this may have made our clip better.

Selection of Content

When looking at our video and studying parts like costume and props within it, I feel everything was appropriate. A lot of horrors today don’t use big make-up and big costumes; this is so the audience feel it would be just like a normal day when something frightening happens in the film. It makes them feel it might happen to them, which then results in a more effective horror. We did the same with ours. As it was a psychological horror, it was supposed to test the mind and affect the character like that, rather like zombies and vampires, etc. Alex, our actor, was dressed in day-to-day clothes and no make-up as he wasn’t playing a horror film character like a zombie, etc. As for props we used a simple pendant. This is what we put the most thought into as this was the main object; we didn’t want anything to overpower its importance. We also definitely used an appropriate setting and location. The original film was shot in the Arboretum in Nottingham, we also shot ours here. We did however change where in here it was shot. We wanted to use somewhere else as we didn’t want everything to be exactly the same. Within the film we decided to use Alex, a member of our group, to act. With earlier projects we all had a go at acting and Alex was good enough for this clip. It was also easy to use him as we wouldn’t have needed to find some else that was to come with us, there was also a chance of them cancelling, Alex however had to be there so if he was not able to make it, it would have affected him just as much.

Self-assessment

We all contributed to each part in the film as we all wanted the experience. We did however all have more specific roles. Alex’s was mainly acting, Natalie’s creating the storyboard and the test shots and mine was editing. When planning our clip we all found locations. For mine, as I thought we were more likely going to create a film outside, I found a church near where I lived and took photos when it was dark of it. When filming, I handled most of the camera work. As Alex was acting, Natalie and I dealt with the camera. It was better then as two opinions was better than one. When editing we all put our ideas forward, studying the clips repeatedly to see where it was best to cut and add different parts.

I feel our clip was a good attempt overall. If considering improvements I feel we could have spent more time on editing; we did spend a decent amount of time on it, editing just tends to be more complicated when we first think, spending as much time on it as possible helps. We could have looked at transitions to use. When filming we could have also spent a little bit more time on it; just taking a few more shots and different types just in case they were needed.

When it comes to my final coursework film, I think I’ll but ore consideration into props, make-up, etc. If I decide to change genre I want the make-up, etc, to be perfectly matched with which ever I chose. I also think its decent fun to do with a group and gives us more experience and diversity. I will also make sure I use a decent location, the one we used for our film was good but that was because we used the same place as the one we recreated, we were helped. For the final one, I won’t have that; therefore I want it to tick all the right boxes for a horror.

Katie Mckeag

Evaluation of preliminary assessment - By Natalie Thorpe

Use Of Camera

Our finished work shows we used a wide variety of different shots throughout the video, we included long shots, close ups, extreme closeups, mid shots and a high angle shot. We also used panning at the beginning of the clip to show the audience the surrounding and the view that the character has, we also used zoom with the focus towards the end of the video to emphasise the importance of the pendant.We all tried using the camera to do shots throughout the video, so we all made an equal contribution to the exercise. Some of the shots were better than others but in this case we just watched them back then re shoot then, if we would of left the not so good shots we would have had to shoot again, which could of caused continuity errors. So overall i think the shots were all steady  and framed appropriately to a high standard. We used the composition grid the most as it was useful to position the character whilst still seeing the background, the audience will immediately be drown to what is happening in the background. I think we could of improved the video by adding transitions but overall i think we worked well together.


Use Of Editing

We applied the rules of continuity editing throughout the video as all the shots flowed nicely together although this was normally our downfall I think we did really well in the exercise as the transition from one shot to another didn't look out of place although i think some of the shots needed speeding up a little so it flows better and to keep the audience interested in the video. To make sure we used enough shots we drew a story board before hand so when we came to shoot the video we knew what we were doing. I think the editing we used had a positive effect on the video as we used quite alot of the sound effects, we used the wind noises throughout the video as there was already leaves blowing around so it made it more realistic and  gave it a more mysterious feel. We also used a scary sound effect when we zoomed in on the pendant this was to show the importance of the object. It was good working together as we all had different ideas to contribute to the editing, so we all added to each others ideas to make the video a better standard.

Selection Of Content

The film genre we choose was a psychological horror, although the actor in our video was a modern everyday boy it had a more realistic fell to it, it made it more believable for the audience. We didn't really use any extreme costumes or makeup for the video as we was only shooting 40 seconds we used one prop which was a pendant, i thought it was effective as we keep it simple so the attention was on the main prop. If we was shooting out real horror film we would have definitely used a wide variety of props to give a more horror like genre. The location we choose was the Arboretum in Nottingham it was perfect for the exercise as it was  quiet and extremely relevant as the video we choose to shot was originally set there we decided to shot in a different place to the original video  because we wanted it to be different. The actor in a film was Alex he is also a member of the group, we decided to use him as the actor as he was fit for the role and we wanted to make sure everyone has has a go at acting.

Self- assessment

My role in the film was to create the storyboard, however we all did contribute by suggesting different shots to make the finial video a better standard. I also did the pictures for the before and after shots of the actor and found a few different places for the location. I also did part of the filming so i got a chance to try out using the camera whilst doing the different shots, I gave alot of input to the exercise as i tend to get my point across by suggesting different ideas to make the video unique and gripping to watch. I think we all had a go at editing equally as we all suggested different techniques and worked together well! I think we could of improved by making it flow abit better by speeding up the shots and adding a few more affects but overall i think it was a  considerably good attempt and i thoroughly enjoyed doing it. I think when we do our final piece we will include some better props and costumes to make it more realistic and more enjoyable. We will also shot alot more types of shots so we have a variety and don't have to re shot all the time. Although we worked well together it is quite hard to find time to meet up as we are all from different areas so this could affect our real horror film.

By Natalie Thorpe

Analysis of 40 second video

The Use Of Camera
Getting the shots right was the main priority for the making of this video and I think we all did very well in the way we handled the camera. Following the basic procedure of applying the battery, putting in the tape and setting it to camera, we set everything up in order so that we did not miss anything out. Furthermore, the use of the tripod was also important as we needed to know all the functions of it to get the best shots for our video. Also, the other functions of the camera like setting the white balance, focus and even putting on the grids to help with the composition was important to help us shoot the best possible shots.
I think that as a group we were able to hold a shot steady, without fault or much error of our own. If we did think something was wrong with the shot, we would simply review it and reshoot if we thought we needed to. Framing the shots was also important and I think that we did an excellent job in framing. The location or background of the shots needed to be good as well because if we framed in a different location, the shot wouldn't look the same. I believe that we did use a variety of shot types, for example long shots, close ups, extreme close ups and high angle shots. To add, I think that we used shots like panning and zoom very well which also shows our ability as a group that we will try more difficult shot types.
The part of the camera we used the most though was the composition grid. This way, we could set the actor/character up in the best possible position against the location, so that the audience could enjoy the video more.

Use of Editing
Continuity editing is one of the most important things to consider when shooting because a video or film that appears 'jumpy' will not please the audience. Having a plan is the best way to tackle this problem. Using a story board is what we thought was the best way to help show continuity editing. This way, you can know exactly what you're shooting without worring about 'jump' shots. I thought that our video was good at showing a flowing film. We were always thinking about making and showing how shots flow during shooting so that we could make a good video. Most of the shots in our video did flow quite well however, they could be improved. Reviewing our video, I did think that we could have improved our shots more, using continuity editing, to make the video flow better. On the other hand, we have only had a few times of using coninuity editing and I would think that we would get better at it in the future.
Editing as a group is much better than doing it individually as you get more opinions on how you could edit your video for the better, by the use of transactions and sounds. I think that using transactions and sounds improves your video and definitely helps make it flow better, although we didn't use transactions I think that they would have further improved our video.  We did, however use sounds which proved a very good asset when reviewing the video.  Using sounds like wind, rustling and a scary accent helped make the effect of the video better.  Overall, I think that our use of editing was good as we used contiuity editing and sounds for improvement, although it could have been further improved by adding transitions.

Selecting of content
When reviewing the video I thought that our use of costume, make-up and props helped show the genre of our video.  Horror films of today have modern costumes to help portray to the audience that it could happen to them.  Our costume that we used was also modern to show this effect.  Furthermore we only used one prop which was the pendant.  I thought that the pendant was a very good prop to use because it's kind of mysterious and shows itself as a psychologically scary object.  On the contrary we didn't use any make-up because we thought our 40 seconds of video didn't need any.  Because of the 40 seconds we chose we didn't include or show any villains or monsters that could have had make-up on, however I would like to think that when we shoot our final film we would use make-up to show a horrific effect.
Location was also an important factor in the shooting of our video.  We shot at the Arboretum on the outskirts of Nottingham city centre because this was the original location of the film we chose, however we didn't shoot in the same place as the original horror film.  We chose to do this because we didn't want to fully copy the horror film and thought that another setting within the Arboretum would be better.  Furthermore, we thought our location suited the genre of our video because some of the features within our location ,like the canons and the old stone statues looked menacing and were good features to have in our location.
Acting is also another part of making a film.  During our film we only used one actor, myself, to play as the main character in the video.  We chose a male actor because the original film, of which we used the 40 seconds included a male main character.  Although I didn't use speech in the video I thought I did ok at acting however, the extreme close-up of myself wasn't a very good one.  Overall I thought my acting was above average however if I chose to follow a career in acting I would definitely need to improve!

Self assessment
My biggest part during the making of our 40 second video was acting.  I appeared in most of the shots of the film and used expressions to help complete the film. Towards planning we all contributed the same amount as we all helped in choosing shots, actors and location for our video.  I thought my contribution to the planning was good as I thought I had some good ideas about shot types and location.  When filming my main part was acting, however when I wasn't acting I was using the camera to help show my ability to control the camera.  I used zoom and focus when shooting the shot of the swinging pendant to help create a horrific shot type.  I thought my performance when filming was good, as I contributed a lot as we all did when in control of filming.When editing again we all contributed the same amount comparing different ideas and opinions on how to edit the shot.  I thought I contributed good ideas of how to use sounds when editing, choosing sounds that gave a rather chilling atmosphere.
I thought our overall attempt of shooting a horror film was very good, however nothing is perfect and improvements could be made.  The main improvement I thought we could have made was to spend more time editing and viewing different sounds and transactions to help create a good effective horror video.  Furthermore I also think I could have improved my acting skills as personally I thought I could have done better!  On the other hand I believe that our horror video was a good effort.
Finally, I think I have learned a great deal whilst shooting this horror video.  Putting what you've learned into practise is a very good way of learning.  In the future when doing my final assessment I will definitely apply some of the techniques like continuity editing, composition and shot types and more techniques that I hope to learn whilst studying media.  Things that I will improve on when doing my final assessment are to definitely check and keep checking work that you have done so that you can spot mistakes or errors without needing to re-shoot or re-plan.

By Alex Rowbottom

Scannings

Preliminary Assessment & Film

This is our final edited preliminary film.

Composition Exercise

AS Media Examples

This is the AS Media Example we have decided to use when we re-create a 40 second clip. We thought we could re-create a part from this film effortively and hopefully put our own stamp on it.

Continuity editing

Some aspects of continuity have been achieved in our short film task, such things as; location, clothing and lighting. However when watching the playback of the clip altogether it seemed to be quite slow and didn't flow as well as we'd have hoped it would. For example when opening the door, it didn't look right and the attention of the audience may have been misguided. This is because the person in the clip had stopped then the camera recorded, and then they walked; rather than moving while rolling. We did try and solve this problem by editing.

We feel we have evidenced what we learnt last week; we learnt about close-ups and long shots. We have included shots like these within our clip. We also thought about framing our shots by setting up the tripod beforehand and figuring out which shots look best where. We think our close-up was also done effectively as we'd even gotten on the floor to shoot it.

We did include the number of shots we'd planned as well as more from a sheet that was helping us with the task.

One of our weakest points to this task was the pace and atmosphere that is put across in my clip. We feel it lacks both of these as we'd followed the sheet and done what was asked but didn't put our own stamp onto the clip; like improvising or changing any of it.

Or clip could be improved both by camera work and editing. On a few of our last clips we should have used the tripod to straighten out the framing, as the camera was held by hand. When filming we would film a master shot as we didn't do this. Well done us;)