Prelim Evaluation

For the prelim task, Halle and I were assigned to work as a team to shoot our own 2 minute sequence using recently learned camera rules and techniques. Our concept of the story is were we began. As we were presented with two classmates to work with, Yasmin and Edward, we decided a love story would be appropriate and interesting to film. Yasmin and Edward were to play the parts of our characters in our sequence. With this in mind I focused on how we would present the film.
From the moment we were set the task I began to contemplate what angles and positions we could use in order to achieve good marks and show our understanding of techniques we can use. As I thought about this i wondered how we could try using high and low angles in our piece. I then imagined a scene using stairs. This positioning would not only be new and interesting to film, but also represent the relationship between the characters. After discussing different possibilities in our lesson after the task was set, Halle and I agreed on a plot for the story. Yasmin, looking angry in an attempt to get away from Edward. Edward chases after and tries to understand why she is upset with him, annoyed more by the fact he does not know she ends the relationship and leaves him behind.
Afterward our next step was storyboarding. I with Halle organized a time to meet outside of school at the weekend to work together on drawing up our storyboard. We also exchanged Mobile numbers making it easy for us to communicate and plan our meetings. When it came to the weekend Halle and I planned and drew up 9 shots to use in our sequence. We found this quite easy as we both had similar understanding of each others ideas and what we were trying to communicate to each other. Halle also agreed that experimenting with different angles and positions in the frame would be really interesting to do and give us a better understanding of different filming styles in general. With the 180 degrees rule, shot reverse shot and continuity in mind we easily structured our storyboard, script and shooting schedule.
Our schedule kept with the storyboard, this was important and necessary in maintaining our continuity. Because of the arrangement of our overall story it would be difficult to continue and organize our actors and props correctly just from notes and memory. However I feel we adjusted to this well by maneuvering the camera back and forth to get our shots. Although it could be argued that it would be more practical to shot all our high shots at once etc. both Halle and I agreed it was the best option to use in the time and planning given.
The planning I believe was our weakness, although we had completed our set tasks during the planning phase it wasn't until the filming session that I realized how much organization and planning is essential to completing the job well. Personally next time i think I'll plan in much more detail and consider or predict problems I might be faced with to be ready to deal with them. Perhaps to do this i should think more about the camera's abilities and limitations, and have two versions of the storyboard and plan, so if certain shots can’t be film practically, we have an alternative.

When planning our sequence, I used storyboarding, a shooting schedule and a script. For the storyboard I simply brainstormed what angles and shots I could use, I then adapted the script and shots to show examples of shot reverse shot and 180 degrees rule, For example because some of the scenes are set on stairs, I planned a high angle, close up of Yasmin, with Edward position so he can be seen in frame over Yasmin's shoulder. Also the switching between characters during the dialogue scenes. Our schedule followed the storyboard plan. I felt this was necessary to keep continuity, I couldn't think otherwise how it wouldn't be visibly noticeable that the scene wasn't continuous. However because of the time limit it was difficult to follow the schedule and I found that we refer ed to it less as the filming went on, mostly as we felt we didn't have the time to look back on our notes while rushing to complete the task.

Using the camera equipment was a new and interesting experience for me, learning to assemble use the technology effectively was something I'd really been looking forward to in media. We had had many discussions during classes of camera and filming equipments uses and we were soon to see them first hand. Firstly the equipment we used were learnt to us by the media department, and after learning how to set up, adjust and use it we were ready to film at later dates. I was surprised at how straight forward and easy it was to do this. The camera - Canon XH A1 was reasonably easy to use after a demonstration and our assigned research, we were set the task to learn about the camera model and its abilities, along with reviews and it different uses which you can see in a separate task. Using this camera also made me realize how easy it is for independent film makers to use such equipment, and how this must of help broaden and open filming to so many people, truly giving it an Independence that doesn’t have to be plan around budgets and experience. While using this equipment i experimented with different angles and shots, the canon camera has both a viewing screen and eye piece to adjust when shooting different shots, which was really useful for us when shooting our high angles on the stairs. If you look back also to my story boarding (the link of both my draft and neatened version) you'll see how some of the angles and shots are arranged. I kept the equipment in mind when drawing these, and Halle and I managed to draft and decide on how our camera and tripod - Libec LS70 System will allow us to film them. For a number of shots, 2 and 4 in the original storyboard, we had to film without the support of the tripod. At first we were wary of doing this, and unsure how it would result. However we were determined to stick with our angle and positioning choices, so we deiced it would be best to ask Miss Bundy what we could do to still film our desired shots. It was a relief for me when she support our idea and offered due to our inexperience to shoot those particular scenes for us if we couldn't think of another way get the shots we want. Although Halle took on the role of using the camera when filming i could see each take using the viewing screen. This I feel was important for us to corporate on the directing of the scene. I think it was important for me to also see the recorded shot rather than just Halle's opinion as we may have had different idea's of how the scene should look.

In honesty Halle and I didn't consider a variety of factors when planning and filming, due to our experience we were under prepared of what to expect. As a result we didn't perform as well as we could, we didn't consider the time it would take to film the shots realistically and didn't plan our camera positioning effectively when we had the chance. I feel lack of planning was our first and largest mistake of this task. It lead us to being frustrated and rushing our task to fit with the deadline. Defiantly in hindsight I realize carefully planning is key to creating a piece with the best results possible. Perhaps next time both Halle and I whether working together or not could find methods or organizing and premeditating problems better.