In this document, the author reflects on the process of creating a preliminary video project and subsequent final video project. For the preliminary project, the author did not properly consider composition or the influence of camera shots. However, in the final project the author learned more techniques and was able to apply rules of composition, experiment with different shot types, address lighting and sound editing challenges, and add effective titles through wire framing. The author identifies several areas of improvement between the preliminary and final projects due to knowledge gained throughout the process.

1. Evaluation 7

3. In my prelim video I didn’t think about
composition at all. I knew about the rule of thirds ,
however I didn’t feel confident enough to use it
because at that stage I couldn’t think of any
effective examples. This lack of composition is
fairly prominent in my prelim.
In the top two images to the right you can see some
glaring error s with the composition. In the top
image the brown door which Zac had just passed
through is neither in the centre of the screen or on
the right third. This means that the shot isn’t really
balanced and looks altogether wrong.
The second image from my prelim is slightly
similar, Zac is off centre slightly and Nick’s
shoulder seems to take up far too much of the
screen. Thankfully I picked up on these things and
smoothed them out within my actual product.
The third shot is from my final product, as you can
see I’m following the thirds rule, with Callum to the
left, and the tree taking up the right hand side. As a
result the shot looks balanced and draws attention
to Callum and the noose.

4. In my prelim video I was still fairly clueless about how influential a camera was to
the meaning of scenes. Therefore my prelim relied mainly on over the shoulder shots
following the 180 degree rule, close ups, medium shots, long shots and I did use
match on action a couple of times as well. This meant that the camera had very little
influence over the audience’s perception of the scene.
However, when I came to do my actual product, I had learnt a lot more about
different types of shots from both Media AS and Film AS which meant when it came
to filming my final piece I was far more comfortable with the experimentation in the
shots. As a result I used lots of high angle medium
shots to only show my character’s feet. I wouldn’t
have even thought of doing this prior to my prelim
task.
Another thing I learnt from this prelim task is that
it’s almost impossible to hold a camera still without
a tripod. Once I’d edited the clips together it became
glaringly obvious that I had used a hand held
camera. However in my final product I wanted the
shakiness to add to the effect so I decided not to use
a tripod anyway.

5. During my filming of the prelim video (see top right
image) I didn’t need to worry at all about lighting
because I wanted a natural sequence in a standard
college classroom, so it was spot on. However I knew at
the time of filming the prelim that I’d have far more to
consider when it came to my actual sequence.
All along I had thought about doing my shoot during
the daytime to add a shock factor to it, but I wasn’t
completely sold on the idea until about a week or so
beforehand. Up until then when I’d done my location
recces I’d put extra effort into looking at the lighting in
the potential locations. I knew I could slightly brighten
the clips afterwards in final cut, however this wouldn’t
have been enough alone.
On the images to the right you can see the progression
of my work. The top right image is one of my friends
from the prelim video, you can see his face clearly and
all of his surroundings. The second photo is a still from
the raw footage for my actual sequence, once again his
face is clear and in focus which means that once I put
the on the effect (see bottom picture), he’s the focus
point in the frame as he’s the clearest thing.

6. One thing that became extremely apparent after my prelim task is that
not all my friends can act… and this played a crucial role in how I
approached the making of my opening sequence.
It seemed to me that they could do the basic physical acting, however
making themselves sound convincing was a major issue. I took this into
account in my final product. I wrote the storyboard so that the girl who
was initially going to play the character wouldn't have to say anything.
While the shots where she would have to face the camera weren’t very
demanding. This meant that the acting wouldn’t seem cheesy and
unprofessional.

7. The most terrifying part of this whole project for me was
learning how to use the Garageband software and adding sound
effects onto my final product. In my prelim I must admit, I
dodged editing sound as much as possible, I had no idea how to
make it effective which is an obvious improvement.
After a few hours of twiddling with Garageband I had made the
first rough cut of the audio track I would put onto my final
product. Another three or four edits to it after this and my final
track was completed and ready to be imported.
The next challenge I faced was finding sound effects to put onto
the sequence at the very end. I knew that they couldn’t be
copyrighted and eventually I found SoundBible.com which
allows you to download sound effects with different licenses. I
edited up the effects so that they fit perfectly into my story.

8. When I did my prelim task I didn’t use titles
at all for two main reasons; one I didn’t
really know how to use Final Cut at that
stage and secondly, I didn’t really need to
for the short clip I did. This meant that
adding the titles onto my final video was
something else to learn from scratch.
However, once I got to grips with the software,
I learnt how to use wire framing and key
frame which meant I learnt how to make
text move on screen.
This was quite a big leap forward for be
because although it’s very simple to do, by
learning how to do it I could make my final
titles more effective.
As a result of wire framing I
was able to make titles like
the one above move with any
action happening on screen