Evaluation of Katie White and Georgia Davies' preliminary task.

1. Preliminary Task Evaluation – Lights Out
The planningstage of our preliminarytaskincludedcomingupwiththe idea,creatingastoryboard
and writingascript.Then we hadto finda suitable location,andfindingpeople whowouldlookright
for the characters andwho legitimatelywantedtoactinour sequence.Katie and Iknew assoonas
we startedthat we wantedto dosomethinginthe genre of horror,but addinga storyto the idea
was hard.Aftergoingthroughmanysuggestionsthatwere toocomplicatedforourfirsttask,we
settledona plotabouta baby sitterandthe kidshe waslookingafter.Whatwas alsodifficultwas
findingactorsthat fitourcharacter’s descriptions.Asone wasa younggirl,we had to have someone
oldenoughtoact but youngenoughtofitthe vulnerable andcreepylookof the character.We
overcame thisbycastingone of Katie’scousins,whowasoldbutlookedveryyoung.We castKatie’s
othercousin,the youngercousin’ssister,asthe babysitter.Thismeantthattheygoton well and
couldact withoutbeingembarrassed. Anotherdifficultywas changingourideaasit was too
complicated.We didthisbyexcludingthe demonicantagonistwhichcreatedtensionandmystery
whenthe sequence endedonacliff-hanger.
On the otherhand,some thingswentquite well.The locationwaseasytofindaswe neededalittle
girl’sbedroomandsome otherpartsof a house forthe beginningshots.We were able touse Katie’s
house,whichworkedperfectly.Also,bythe time we hadourideamakingthe scriptand storyboard
turnedoutto be easierthaninitiallycomingupwiththe plot.
Whilstfilming,lotsof thingswentnotaswe had hoped.Firstly,we chose tofilmatnight,whichwas
a bad decision.The lightingwasscarce,whichmade the picture fuzzy,grainy andsometimesyou
weren’table tosee the actors’expressions.Although,the lightinginthe downstairsscenescame out
well:byhavingalamp shone atthe subject,itcreatedshadowswhichconformstothe horrorgenre.
Anotherthingthatdidn’tgoso well wasthat the takeswere veryshort,whichmade ithard to edit
and made the whole thingseemjumpyandtooquick.Also,Katie andIweren’tsure onhow to use
the microphone,whichmeantthathalf waythroughfilmingwe gotridof it inthe thoughtsthat we
hadn’trecordedanydialogue.Inthe end,we actuallyhadrecordedvoice,anditdidn’taffectthe
outcome significantly.Somethingthatwasdone well wasthe cameraanglesandmovementsused.
The match-on-actioncame outseamlessly,there were nooverlaps.Also,the tiltingof the camera
whilstKatie’scousinwalkedupthe stairslookedgoodandvariedthe shottypes.
Duringthe editingprocess,soundwassomethingof acomplication.Inone shot,Katie laughedatthe
end,thinkingthe shothadstopped.Toresolve this,we hadtogetrid of a lotof diegeticsoundand
add non-diegeticsoundtocoverit.The musicwashard to findas manypiecesof musicdidn’tfit
withthe genre,butwhenwe foundthe rightmusic(non-copyrighted) itfitwell andcreatedamore
tense/scaryatmosphere.Also,lotsof the takeswere shorttakes.Thisprovedtobe difficulttoeditas
there wasn’tmuchthere to actually edit.The lighting,assaidbefore,createdsome problemsasthe
picture wasgrainy,and we coulddo nothingaboutthat.Uploadingitwashard as well because when
it wentupon YouTube,the sequence wascutshortby about45 seconds.Atthismoment,thishasn’t
beenresolved,butwill soonbe.
On the otherhand,editingthe match-on-actionsequence wasperformedtoperfectionbyKatie and
I. The shotswere cut so itflowedthrough,whichIthinkwasthe highlightof ourwhole projectwhich
went,overall,prettybad.The non-diegeticsoundworkedinthe end,andthe transitionsbetween
shotswere simple buteffective.
If I were todo the preliminarytaskagain, there are manythingsthatI woulddodifferently.Forone,
I wouldnotfilmat night(the worstmistake),tomake the footage eligible.Also,Iwoulddolonger

2. takesso there ismore to edit,andalsofilmmore footage sothere isa varietyto choose from.
Finally,Iwouldstoryboardmore thoroughlysowe can follow the scriptpiece bypiece,ensuringthat
we include everything.Overall,Ihave learntthatbadlightingcanruinfootage,andgood camera
shotsand takescan make a filmbetterorworse.Inthe maintask,I will take all that I have learned
and use itto make the taskbetterthan the preliminary.