Hanadi Afendi - Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

From our preliminary task, I feel we’ve learned many different aspects of filming and what is required. The preliminary task was a way to showcase our knowledge on the continuity principles - match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule which helped us in the final product, and it was also the first time we'd used the cameras and editing software properly. 

From this picture you can see that we have used the 180 degree rule stayed on this side of the semi circle and we did not go past this.

 

 

From these pictures you can see the continuity of the shots as match on match is happening. This is when something in the scene is happening and when its cut the same piece of action is going on.

In this shot we have shown the shot reverse shot from an over the shoulder angle. This is a technique where one character is shown looking at another character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. This is a style of continuity.

Planning:  The importance of storyboarding helped order the direction of the product and give us a rough idea on how it would look once edited. However we noticed that sometimes you have to make changes to it during production if things aren’t going to plan. Whilst we were filming the preliminary task, we felt the needed to stick to the storyboard. In our final product, we completely changed our initial storyboard as we felt it was quite complex for the short time we had to film. 

For our preliminary task, we choose the right location, so we have continued with the right decisions for our final product. However continuity was an issue as if we did not finish filming then we would have to remember to wear the same clothes the following day ready to continue shooting. Because of this we have learnt and made sure we had a timetable for what days we are free and able to shoot therefore we should bring the necessary equipments on the day. 

Filming:

Whilst we was Setting up the equipment we was checking the spirit level this was important, as it made sure the camera was level so our shots weren’t at an unwanted angle. This then has helped us whilst filming the final product as we were aware if we were filming at a good angle. Learning these through our preliminary helped us film faster as we we’ve already familiarised ourselves with the equipment.

In our preliminary task, we noticed that we had poor use of lighting when looking back at it, this then made us more aware to control the shadow and light in our opening as much as we could. The shadows that appear in our final product were intended with the use of the red tint, as in our preliminary we struggled at the beginning with controlling this which made our characters look darker than what was intended.

We also had problems with the sound as we were using dialogue. It was kind of hard to hear it through the cameras sometimes if we weren’t directly close to it. Therefore our final product we restricted the use of any diegetic sounds and this has made our final more effective.

In our preliminary task our shots were quite simplistic even though we was just experimenting and doing simple shots we got the hang of it quite quickly therefore we could of tried using allot of other shots. This is why in our Final product we have used a variety of camera shots and movements. This is appeals to the audience more.

During our filming, we were restricted in a classroom as we was acting out a teacher telling off a student for being late. The tables used restricted the places where we could place our camera and as well as the use of big windows in the classroom made seeing the characters even harder as this was the only room available on the day. From this we have learnt to book the appropriate rooms that we wanted to film our final product so we don’t have any issues with lighting and this has helped significantly as we had all the control for the use of shadow and lighting during our final product.

Editing:

During the editing process we have learnt the importance of continuity and how these would lead to problems if we did not address them. This meant that during our final product we made sure whilst filming again on the next day we had everything in the right place as on the day we first shot.

Whilst we were editing it was quite simple and we just put the shots together cut any unnecessary shots out and included simplistic credit titles. From this we had to learn and explore imovie a little more for our final product as we had to put transitions and the use of blurs, change the font style, size and colour. This took up a lot of time as we did not know to use such tools and we found it difficult using a Mac computer as we are not all familiar with this.

Teamwork:

For our final product we have worked well as a team and we all inputted our ideas. From the Vlog1 (scroll down)  , Vlog2 (scroll down) and Vlog3 you can see this.

The importance of working in a group of 3 was shown as we all were different individuals with different styles and ideas. We came together and took ideas from each other to create our final product. We have learnt from the preliminary task that we should all have an input and not just one person doing everything as the product doesn’t end up being great, as if we worked together it would have turned out better.