Prelim Task Evaluation

Our group filmed it in a class room in the school. This location was good because it had a door which was useful as one of the characters could walk though it and make the scene more dramatic. Also the door didn't slam after him in the middle of his speech. Also the class room allowed us enough space to get in a good wide shot and maneuver around the actors to get a good shot. In the task we all took an equal role. There were 4 shots to set up I set up one of these shots which was the close up of character A. I also did the role of calling out the terminology. I also held up the rifle mic for a bit and I recorded the camera so I mostly took part in everything. The one thing that I didn’t do was to direct the actors however I was aware of what they were doing but i was more focused on the camera work as this is what we needed to concentrate on. We did tell the actors that for each time we started it again they had to do the exact same movment other wise it would look out of place and wouldn't work when editing because will need to do match on actio from one shot to the other.

Our plan was to was to have a dark shot to make the man seem more sinister, scary and superior. We then wanted to put on a back light on the girl because we wanted her to come a cross pretty and innocent and like she is the good girl and inferior. However as we were not in a studio we did not have the advantage of proper back light so we tried to compromise and use a desk lamp as a back light but it was not effective and made no difference. In the end we ended up putting the desk lamp on the desk facing downwards so it wasn’t really use at all. The lighting is important to the scene because it sets the mood of the location and the characters. It can make it scary or light hearted. The lighting was effective because it made the scene scary and more intense.

For each camera shot we had to re adjust the camera to get the right shot. Each time we checked the hight whether then angle was right to make then feel superior or inferior then we would lock it and make sure the camera is on properly. We then had to bubble the camera. This is done by leveling out the bubble on the camera by straightening up the tri pod. We have to do this for each shot other wise it could be wonky and then the whole scene is ruined and it would look really odd when edited with the other shots. We then had to check whether the focus was right and also the contrast and the brightness. We could changed this by using the shutter speed or the aperture. We then made sue that it was switch to indoor so that the lighting would look good. Each time we would make sure that it was framed correctly in the wide shot we made sure that the end of the table and the door was in shot so everything that happened would happen with in the shot. In the close ups we made sure that it was the head a shoulders in shot and there wasn't too much head space. Over the shoulder shots we wanted not too much of the characters who’s shoulder we were looking over was to much in the shot and the main focus was on the character we meant to be looking at. In each shot we made sure that there was no lighting equipment in the shot. When we were going to do the backing lighting on the girl we had to put a lamp onto a chair behind her. It was in not in the shot however it did limit her movement because if she moved to much it could have shown in shot. Also we made sure that the rifle mic was not in shot. We did chose good angles for the characters. In the wide shot we had it normal and level to the characters. Then in close ups and over the shoulders we did a high angle shot on the girl which made her look inferior and then we did a low angle shot on the guy which made him look superior. This was our aim to create a side that the audience could take and it gives it more meaning. When we filmed out shots we referred back to our planning using the story bored and our list of shots and what angles they would be at. We started with a wide shot and then moved on to the over the shoulder of the guy and then so that we didn’t have to move the camera again we zoomed in a focused. We then did the same for the girl. Because we had time we then experimented with other shots such as extreme close ups and close ups of hands and we even tried doing a shot hand held. We thought about the 180 rule and we made sure that we did not brake it. We made sure that everyone knew what we where doing and when we were doing it by using the correct terminology such as 'stand by' ect.

Over all I think that this task went well. I managed to experiment with lighting which I never really thought about before. I learnt that it ia really hard to get the purfect light and sometimes you need to compramise but sometimes it just doesn't work. I also learnt the importance of termiology and if you don't use it no one knows what they are doing so thats really imnportant. I also learnt that it is quite hard to get a purfect shot possibly because of the actors and there is a lot to think about on the camera such as apeture and shutter spped exectra.