Evaluation activity 7

1. Looking back at your prelim task, what have
you learnt in the progression from that to
the final product?

2.  In comparison to my preliminary task, my final product incorporated a wider
range of camera shots as well as camera movements which hugely improved
the overall result.
 In my preliminary task I incorporated only a couple of shots which were;
medium shot, tracking shot, zoom and over the shoulder shots. Most of these
shots were stationary which made my preliminary task a bit boring. Due to
this, we realized that we needed to incorporate more different shots and
include a wider range of movement in order to improve the quality of the film
and reduce apathy. Therefore, in my final product I included different shots like
close ups to emphasize the emotions of the characters ate each stage of the
film, P.O.V in order to engage the audience and keep them entertained, for
example when Stephan first wakes up and sees blur. I also used low angle shots
as well as high angle shots in order to emphasize the superiority and inferiority
of the characters in my final product which also makes the audience feel
vulnerable. We also used a two shot where we show both Stephan and Sydney
to emphasize the possible violence that will occur.

3.  In terms of composition of our shots in the opening sequence of a film, we made sure
that they definitely improved. We made sure we used only the shots we needed and
wasted as little space as possible in order to keep the audience engaged with our
product. However, there were still occasions where the some space was wasted, for
example, on the two shot which included both characters there was some wasted space
on the top and bottom of the screen which may have lead the audience to disengage.
Nevertheless, we thought that the rest of the cinematographing flowed really well and
allowed an efficient outcome matching all of the action.
 As well as this, during the preliminary task me as the cinematographer, I struggled a lot
with the 180-degree rule and always forgot that I couldn’t break it and it therefore
slowed me down. Due to this, I made sure familiarized my self with this rule and ensured
that this wouldn't be a limitation in my final product. I can say that this was a success as I
didn’t struggle with the 180 degree rule at all as I learnt from my previous mistakes.

4.  We sat with the editor in order to ensure that the lighting matched the scenes
and made them flow due to the fact that lighting was an issue in the preliminary
task. We can say that we have successfully achieved that in the majority of the
scenes and where possible which made the product more of a success.
 The editing in our final product is much more refined in comparison to our
preliminary task as we were able to incorporate different editing more complex
editing techniques like a cross cut, fade, and special effects which we weren’t
able to incorporate in our preliminary task. This made the film more intriguing
and kept the audience engaged and entertained. These also allowed us to
unambiguously exemplify the scenes and the purpose of them, in addition the
synchronous actions and the well used score music aided the emphasis of the
scenes and allowed the film to have a different vibe to it and made it much
more enjoyable.

5.  During the production of the preliminary task I remember that usage of
the match on action was not efficient and effective, this is due to the fact
that we added two shots which were supposedly happening at the same
time which may have disrupted the real time feeling of the clip.
 Therefore me and the director made sure we sat down with the editor and
made sure everything flowed well and no error such as the previous one in
the preliminary task happened. Fortunately, our editor was really good and
he managed to do a great job in making the shots flow and matching it to
real time action.

6.  Another complication we faced was the use of shot reverse shot in our
preliminary task. During this we left too much wasted and unnecessary space
on the outsides of the shots making the person on the other side look smaller
which may disengage the audience. As well as this, the lighting differed when
filming the two different characters which made the shots flow less.
Additionally, we did not leave the over the shoulder shots on for a long enough
time.

7.  Therefore we ensured that our final product had tight over the shoulder shots
and no space was wasted in order to keep the audience engaged. As well as
this, we made sure the lighting was correct and it conformed to each over the
shoulder shots in order to make the shots flow better and make it more
realistic and conform to a real media product.

8.  Overall, I feel as though I have progressed immensely from the first time I
started filming in the preliminary task. I have learned a lot of new skills and
I now understand the camera much better than I did the first time and was
able to convey these skills into the final production. This was a very good
experience overall as I was able to develop my team working skills as I had
to work with two other members who also carried out their roles in the
best way possible, facilitating our work as a group as we were able to work
well with each other. We all got some good reviews and most people seem
to have liked our opening sequence which is very important to us.