Preliminary Task: Editing and evaluation

The task we were set to do was to make a short video based on a real life scenario, two characters had to be in this video and both had to exchange dialogue. When filming the video we had to use twelve different camera shots, angles, movements and the 180 degree rule.

Before we we actually started filming, we firstly had to pick a real life scenario which two characters could act out and exchange dialogue in. We made the decision by mind mapping the possible scenarios we could choose from. Our chosen scenario was a contracting signing between a new player and a manager. After we had picked the scenario we wanted to do, we had to find a suitable place where we could record. After we picked the area we was going to record in we planned out each shot on an A4 sheet of paper. On this sheet of paper we wrote the location of the shot, what type of shot it was, the characters needed a sketch of the scene and any extra things that would need to be added such as dialogue or props. Having these A4 sheets helped as it meant we would have everything planned out before we recording so we wouldn't have to make anything up on the spot. After we had our 12 shots planned we just needed too find two people that would be the actors for us and we then we could start recording.

The production of this task wasn't the best. For our first shot one of the group members was in it not realising. The camera man in the group forgot to use the 180 degree rule so when the footage is played back it doesn't look as realistic as it possibly could. One actor managed to take the whole process seriously where as the other actor couldn't take it as serious this makes certain parts of the recording not look as real as it possibly could. When actually recording we used a tripod to keep the camera steady for each shot to make them look better and we had a video camera provided by the school.

After we were happy with our recording our teacher transferred our shots from the camera to a shared area we were able to access the videos from the macs and use the software adobe premiere pro CS6 to edit the shots together to produce a piece that looked like one whole video. When editing I had to make sure there was a good flow continuity through out the video other wise it would look like I had just added shots in without any form of editing being done to that particular shot which would make the film look sketchy.

Overall I think the film met the expectations of the set brief as it was a scene in which two players exchanged dialogue. The film had a one strong point which was one actor being able to play his role exceptionally well and take the task serious. However throughout there were a lot of weaknesses. Our film had no establishing shot however this was out of our control as our teacher didn't transfer the establishing shot from the camera to the mac for us to add. The audio of the film isn't the best but again this was due to the microphones on the cameras further more there was a class next door to where we recorded which were noisy and were heard all the way through the film. In our opening shot two of the group members are in the shot as both hadn't realised we had started recording. Our camera man didn't apply the 180 degree rule which resulted in the shot reverse shot not looking as realistic as it possibly could of. In the main task I will to develop on the camera shots, angles and movements as we could have included more and we will apply the 180 degree properly when dialogue is being exchanged between characters.