2. 1.) What have you learned about planning?
(ideas, research, mis-en-scene)
I began with creating my own idea for the project, which was an advertisement for illegal
downloading; my group were able to choose from illegal downloading or anti-smoking.
‘Summary: An individual has been asked to get a computer programme for a friend from online.
Without his knowledge his online friend was a police tracker for illegal downloading. Once the man
sent through the downloaded file his internet access was blocked’
Once my group presented their idea to the rest of the group, we made a final decision which
involved taking elements from each idea, combined them to create a final idea.
‘The camera will have point of view shot speeding through the college turning corners then
will zoom to a man and have a close up of a hand turning a door knob and entering a dim light room
where a mi5 style agent is sitting working on a laptop. The man approaches him and they shake
hands and sit opposite sides of the table. They then exchange a few words about a hacker illegally
downloading files off the internet. The man then turns the laptop towards his friend and the camera
focuses on the laptop and there will be a tracking system running to find the hacker. There will be
effects of the earth spinning and pinpointing a location and then zooming towards that location.
There will be a crane shot leading on from the zoom and will continue the zoom onto the hacker. the
hacker is then arrested by police in which a x-ray style effect show his heart beating as he knows
he’s in trouble and then he’s taken in to custody.’
From this I learned how a variety of ideas are able to be put together to create a final
proposal; which allowed for each member of the group to have influence on the project and
encouraged them to participate inn the makings of the advert.
3. Once the idea was in place, my group had to work together to complete a
script, a story board, a shooting script and a risk assessment.
Script:
‘Plot overview Scene 1:
P.O.V with hand held camera speeding through the college, turns a corner and a man standing at a door comes
into view. P.O.V zooms in to a close up of his hand on the door handle. Man enters room then camera
position changes and appears in the room. Shows the man entering pans to him meeting another man and
reveals the rest of the room.
Agent Mills: [enters room] good afternoon sir.
Neo: Aaaa Agent Mills good timing.
Neo rises from the chair where he was seated and approaches Agent Mills and greets him with a handshake.’
From producing this script, my group were able to be better organised and
knew what they were supposed to do when it came to filming and the process of
creating the advert. The group had to consider certain locations (such as the
cafeteria) and if there was access for the camera to be positioned correctly to get a
good shot of the performance and accurate sound from the sound boom; this all
had to be considered when it came to writing the script.
4. Storyboard:
The story board was used to create an image in our minds of how the actors will be
performing. It was mainly used by the camera person and sound person, so they knew
how to position the equipment for the full effect that the group wanted to achieve.
From this, I learned that when filming, I needed to be reminding to the positioning of
the actors and equipment. Therefore, it assisted me to follow the script appropriately,
with a few alternations as we went along in the process.
5. Shooting Script:
The shooting script began to make each
scene more precise when it came to timing
and place. This helped us to be more
organised with our work. Seeing as we had a
set amount of time to produce this piece of
work, we needed to be aware of out
progress.
From this, I learned how time management
is an essential when it comes to film making;
especially in our project, which involved a
deadline.
6. Risk Assessment:
The risk assessment was used to make the filming more safe and to make sure that the
location we were planning on filming at had accurate and appropriate space for the
actors and equipment.
From this, I learned the importance of health and safety when it comes filming and
using areas outside of the classroom.
7. 2.) What have you learned about using
equipment?
(camera, sound)
When I used the camera and its additional equipment (such as
tripod), I learned the different techniques involved with the
camera, such as zoom and panning. This allowed me to create
better effects for the advert and complete the required camera
shots, high angle shot, zoom in, over the shoulder shot.
The use of sound allowed me to understand the equipment
involved, as well as the effect sound creates on a moving picture. I
was able to use equipment, such as a boom pole and a mic; this
created clean and accurate sounds which were produced by the
actors as they performed the script and storyboard. The sound
allows viewers to understand what is being delivered to them
through the advert.
8. 3.) What have you learned about editing?
From editing I came across many advantages and disadvantages, which helped me to learn what mistakes
I made and what I do not need to change in future projects.
One advantage, I was able to use different
effects, such as transitions, to make my advert have
better effects when delivered to the audience. Another
advantage, I was able to cut and copy different section of
the sound and video to make the presentation of the video
accurate.
One disadvantage, we did not think through who we
caught on film when we were filming; which is presented in one
clip o four advert, where the camera is at a high angle shot focused
on the illegal downloader, the scene is sped up but we notice a man
walking unnaturally fast in one side of the shot. Another advantage,
we did not take enough takes of each shot, which we could have used
to copy, cut and replace certain scenes and sound. This is identified in
one of our shots with ‘Agent Mills’ and ‘Neo’, and ‘Neo’ jolts in the middle
of the scene, which could have been avoided if we have more takes to
replace it with.
9. 4.) What have you learned about living theory
with practise?
(textual analysis – making our product)
As I completed tasks before the actual filming
process, we were able to learn the different stages from
watching videos and identifying the elements of mis-en-
scene, sound, camera shots.
This helped me to use the identification skills and
interpret them into my planning and product.
