Preliminary Exercise Evaluation

Prelim Task Evaluation

1) Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?
I worked with Daniel Gittings, Jeremy Kumarathasan, and Aidan Szczurek. Daniel, Aidan and I acted in the scene so Jeremy took more responsibility in terms of direction and camera work, but we all had an input in production, filming and direction at times where we were not acting. We organised meetings at lunchtimes to confirm ideas and develop them too. The group also compensated well to ensure an equal input; I was unavailable to attend one of our meetings so I volunteered to write up the completed shot list, which Aidan drew a storyboard for. I paired up with Aidan to edit the shots together, separately to Jeremy and Daniel who did the same thing but in their own interpretation for change in terms of the order/length/number of shots we planned.

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



My Group's Storyboard

 To plan our sequence we first sat together as a group and brainstormed ideas verbally and noted them down on paper until we came to a conclusion. After we agreed on ideas I typed up a list of shots, and after creating the storyboard our ideas were clear and ready to film. The last stage was simply to highlight the shot list according to set-up/shooting location in order to efficiently carry out the shooting and schedule when we would do each shot. We took into account continuity theories and rules such as the '180 degree rule' to piece together a series of shots that made sense, as well as creating a strong sense of genre.

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

We used the school's digital cameras (Canon DV30) and a tripod to shoot this task, filming in different locations in a variety of techniques and angles. We shot the majority indoors where the light could easily be controlled, but we did not require this anyway; the natural outdoor light was sufficient. We used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit our sequence on computers designed specifically for editing. We cut the clapperboard intros off of the starts of shots, and pieced them together in the order/pace we believed fit our perception of the idea best. 

 

4) What factors did you take into account when planning, shooting and editing?

Daniel and Jeremy editing 'The G' in their own way

When planning and shooting we had to take into account the amount of time we would take, the lighting of location and availability as well as anticipate fire-drill alarms, bells for lessons ending and traffic of other students in the school moving around. Also considered were continuity theories/rules, the way the audience would interpret what they would see (we may know what the scene is about as producers/directors but it has to make sense to others). As we went through the editing process we made sure these theories came into practice successfully, in order for our sequence to make clear sense and flow. Also, we took into account pace and shot length, as well as whether we

actually needed all the shots we planned and filmed. 

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



Aidan and I editing our sequence together



I believe we had some success with this task; we finished shooting on time even with the delays and inconveniences occurring. Our planning went well as we didn't discuss/argue ideas for too long, and confirmed a decision without much fuss or difficulty, although in hindsight, with more planning time we could have accomplished more together in order to be more prepared. By this I mean that the individual responsibility allocation at times led to confusion when we brought our work to the table, for example my clear visualization of the shot list I wrote was not instantly fully comprehensible to my peers. My group worked well as a team despite the occasional disagreement, although on set some of these lasted too long - and as the source of many of the ideas I felt unable to voice my concerns with arguments, in fear of further disrupting our productivity. I don't believed we 'messed around' which is definitely a positive for a group of 4 boys, but the way we dealt with uncertainties was not always the most effective. I felt we did each individually contribute to ideas and responsibility at every point in the process, however. Aidan and I worked together effectively as a team on editing, my only real criticism would be the relatively long time in took in comparison to the others, largely due to perfectionism and lengthier discussion on how we would do certain things. To repeat myself, more succint and efficient planning would be needed to decrease this time.

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 believe this task has been enlightened us of the time things take to shoot and how to behave on set. The task expresses the utmost importance of concise planning and organisation in any filming work, and although I have fortunately had some experience of this before, no harm is done in reminding us of the basic principles. It is essential to try to see your work in the eyes of someone who does not yet know the idea you are working towards, in order for them to be able to see your exact intentions extremely clearly to avoid confusion. An obvious point to also include would be the refreshment of editing ability. This preliminary prepares us for coursework effectively. 

Here is our finished, edited continuity sequence, entitled 'The G':