The student learned a lot about filmmaking techniques from their preliminary task to the full product. They received useful feedback on their preliminary task that helped them focus on important elements like camera angles and shot timing for the full product. They also learned skills like achieving match-on-action and not breaking the 180 degree rule. While the preliminary task was less professional, it helped them understand what was needed for a good grade and to plan the full product more effectively.
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1. How did you attract/address your audience?
In order to introduce our audience to the character and the plot, we used a threat video at
the start of the introduction. The video featured a close-up shot of the character ‘Joseph’
behind a threatening mask. Through the dialogue we established the characters intensions,
emphasising them with the sound editing Benoit achieved on his voice. The low and
aggressive voice connoted anger and threat- giving a tone of danger and violence. Also for
the shot we focused on mise-en-scene by ensuring the room was dark and the background
was barely visible. This enabled us to draw more of the audiences attention towards Joseph
as he was centred in the shot as well as being the only real visible figure. The audience
therefore focused more on his movement and voice which brought the tones of danger. By
adding a border and the word ‘streaming’ to the shot; the shot looked more homemade and
authentic- further signifying that it is a threat video shot at home.
In addition to this, we wrote the script in order to entice the audience- the threat suggests there
will be lots of action later in the film. We achieved this by mentioning an explosion in another
setting. Therefore, later in the opening when Joseph and the bomb are in school, the audience
is aware of what is going on.
2. Continuing on from the threat video, is a sequence of Joseph building the bomb and getting
ready to go to school. Dialogue of a man, presumably Joseph’s father, tells Joseph ‘it’s time
for school’ which informs the audience that Joseph is a student. Therefore the audience is
more aware of what the story will entail, as typically a terrorist is a grown adult. This fact of
the radical only being a child is disturbing to most audiences as young teens/children are
often associated with innocence and kindness. We believe this change is similar to that in
Alfred Hitchcock's ‘Psycho’ as audiences would possibly be more disturbed and afraid of this
character- creating controversy around the film; bringing in a wider audience.
Furthermore, the costume design of Joseph whilst in school implies he is a nerd, therefore
his fellow classmates; they will not suspect his intentions. This emphasises the fact that
Joseph is a disturbed character, and brings forward the idea that even the most unlikely and
innocent of people could be a threat. We use a medium shot featuring Jospeh placed in
between two classmates. This mise-en-scene suggests that Joseph is just like any other
classmate, blending in amongst the crowd.
How did you attract/address your audience?
3. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing your product?
From our first lessons of planning to the editing of our final piece I have learnt a lot about the
production of a film. Whilst first planning out how we would film the piece, we discussed and
researched different methods of shooting.
I gained my first experience with using a camera during the filming of the continuity edit in
which I helped film some shots; learning how use a video camera. After looking back at the
footage and deciding on how we could improve it, I learnt that the most important aspect of
controlling a camera was to keep the camera steady as well as keeping the subject in frame.
Lighting is also a very important aspect of film-making which I previously did not anticipate
to be so important. We used two cameras whilst filming our piece- a GoPro and a Nikon.
Unfortunately the GoPro, which we used for the threat video, had a very high exposure,
therefore the lighting for that sequence was darker than we wanted. The Nikon however had
a lower exposure enabling us to film the other sequences with the lighting we were aiming
for.
4. However this was not so much of a problem because during the editing process we were
able to lower the brightness and add a filter in certain shots. As co-editor, I had a fair amount
of input in a few of the editing sessions, and had a say in what changes were needed in the
editing. During editing the drafts I learnt a lot and was guided mostly by Benoit as he had
previous experience in editing. Therefore research on how to edit our footage was minimal,
and we focused more on the mise-en-scene.
We were able to colour-correct the whole opening to give it a look that represents the tone,
as well as dimming/brightening some shots which we were unable to get the wanted lighting
when filming.
In addition to the colouring, we added titles
during the opening which would fade in and
out, lasting four seconds. This was possibly
one of the hardest tasks in editing as we had
multiple drafts of different fonts and had to
decide where to position each one. Eventually
in our final draft we were happy with how it
ended up. However we did face problems
such as the font being too dominant over the
footage and being too spread out or close to
each other. One way we could have
combatted this problem early on would have
been to plan out where titles would go during
the storyboarding stage.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing your product?
5. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
Our preliminary task was my first experience of working on a film set, although it was not as
professional as the set for our final piece. Despite this, I still learnt a fair amount about how
to use a camera, direct, and edit. During the filming of the continuity edit, my group and I
each communicated fully and ensured we got the most out of the task as we could.
Personally I feel the most important benefit of this task was understand what was important
in order to get a good grade. On our first draft of the task our teacher gave us feedback,
telling us that most of the shots we were using were unnecessary and ineffective. Prior to
this we each believed that the shots we had used were okay and only the script and sound
may need improving. Therefore, we were able to focus more on camera angle choice and
timing of shots through planning the final project. This was extremely beneficial for the group
as we acquired this feedback fairly early on so were able to re-plan most of what we had for
our final project.
Another piece of learning we took
from the continuity task was learning
how to achieve match-on-action.
This is a fairly simple mechanic that
we use throughout our final cut,
however in the first drafts of the
continuity edit we were each
unaware of how important it is.
Therefore when filming the final
project we made sure to film shots
leading into one another, then we
had enough footage to smooth
continuous transitions.
6. One aim of this task was to ensure we did not break the 180 degree rule. We researched
this rule before shooting and did not break it once throughout the task, and reflected this in
out final project. However, we did discuss whether we should break this rule in our final
piece as it can be used to give a disturbing and distorted tone, similar to this dialogue scene
from the Shining:
However we eventually decided against this idea as we thought it would be unnecessary
and may possibly reduce our final mark. Therefore we looked at other conventions that
could represent Joseph as disturbed and creepy.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?