Evaluation

In this exercise, i had to use certain rules and filming techniques in my work. These were the 180 degree rule, rule of thirds and match on action. This is an example of the match on action i used in my media work.

The first shot is the character running towards the stairs, then the second shot continues on from the same shot as before, but it is shot from a different angle, as he jumps over the banister, then the last shot continues on the action again from another angle, but they are all of the same action. This is match-on-action. Everything had to be in the same positions as before so the shots looked like they were all filmed at the same time instead of breaks in between. This is how i used the rule of match on action in my media work.

Here is the example of 180 degree rule.

As you can see from these shots, the camera is always on the same side of the characters. In this case its on the right hand side. Me and Liam didn't break the 180 degree rule, as we never went onto the left hand side of the characters, so we done this very well when planning and filming.

Here is the example of rule of thirds.

As you can see from this shot, in close ups the eyes are meant to be a third down from the top of the screen, which is perfect in this shot as when i split it into 3, the eyes were almost perfectly in line to the top line which is a third away down from the top of the shot, so we used this rule of thirds very well and tried to get the characters eyes a third away down which was successful.


During the production of our film, me and Liam done a good job. We knew what we was going to film, and where we were going to film each scene. Some problems that we came across in our production, was in some scenes me and Liam were both in it. This was a problem because we had no one to film the scene, so we had to set up the camera and film whilst getting into positions, and had to keep checking to make sure the camera was in the right place. Also with filming, we filmed over a period of about 3 days, which were all spread apart, so we had to make sure we had the same clothes on, which sometimes we forgot so we couldn't film certain scenes on that day. Also another problem was when we were filming we had extra sound in the background and in one scene someone walked through a corridor where we was filming, so we had to cut it off a little. If i was to film my work again, i would defiantly make sure that we choose good locations so no one interferes with our production, which would also save us both time so we don't have to keep re-filming. Also i would ask someone to help us film the scenes which me and Liam were in so they can make sure its in the right place and it would be easier and quicker.

During my editing, i didn't really come across many problems, only to do with the footage that i had filmed, as in some scenes there was interference that we didn't see before, so i had to think of ways to cut that part out without it affecting the storyline, so it took some time thinking about this. However as it was the first time i used the new iMovie software, i thought it would take me long to get used to it, but it was very easy to use and didn't take long to put everything together and make it look good with no jumps in. So the post production came out well. But if i was to do it again, i would maybe add some effects in like fades or dissolves to make the storyline a bit better and so it makes more sense.

I think that the overall strengths of my work was mainly the storyboard and our idea. We drew up the storyboard to exactly how we wanted the storyline to go, and showed very clearly what was going to happen in each scene, so when we were filming it, no thinking had to be done as it was all on the storyboard and we just had to follow it. Our idea was unique and we used a range of many shots, and used good match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule, which was all new to me but managed to put it in the work. Another strength was that i think we made the story look realistic and the acting was quite good, hardly any of it looked fake.

I think that our works weakness was to do with the filming and editing. As we didn't film every shot that we needed to, because we forgot to wear the same clothes so we could not film anything,  so some of the film may seem to not make sense. Also another weakness was to do with the sound, in some shots there was sound that was not meant to be in that scene, but i tried hard to get rid of this problem by putting the sound of another track to cover it. But it still made the work sound a bit dodgy in some places.

If i was to improve my work, i would add some extra filming, of the parts we missed out, so the storyline makes complete sense, and also to add some effects to make the work look smoother so its better to watch for the audience. Finally i would also make sure that there is no extra sound, so the film sounds perfect with no problems.

Continuity Exercise

For this exercise, We was asked to create a sequence. The scenario of this sequence was: A character opens a door, crosses a room and sits down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. We could then use our creativity to create the story behind the sequence and add the rest of the sequence in. In this exercise, we had to use a few media language skills and show that we could understand them and use them in our media work. We had to show knowledge and understanding of match of action, which is when something happens in a scene, then when there is a cut, but the same action is completed in the other shot, to make it seem like there was no shots in between it. This is an example of continuity editing. Also show knowledge of shot/reverse shot, which is a cut used to show the viewer something not immediately visible, then cut back to the same shot as before, and finally show understanding on the 180 degree rule. A demonstration of the 180 degree rule and the rule of thirds is shown below:

 



In this exercise, i worked with Liam Bull. We split the planning and filming equally, so with the story board, Liam drew up the first half, and i drew up the second half. When filming we worked together with this, as we both were the characters in the exercise. I think this grouping was quite successful, because i am good friends with Liam, and we are both interested in similar things, so when it came to the planning, our ideas bounced off each other and we came up with some creative things. Also i think it was successful as when we was to do the work, we needed to communicate over the weekend. This was easy as we talk a lot already so we had no problems with this.

To come up with our idea, Me and Liam came up with one initial base idea. Which was karate. Then we just elaborated on the idea further and further, and used our creativity to come up with the final idea. When filming our idea, we didn't really use the storyboard much, as the idea was pretty much stuck in our head from drawing the storyboard, and some of our ideas wouldn't have worked that well so we didn't stick to the storyboard 100%. But the storyboard was still very useful as it helped to plan our ideas and put them into a sequence, then we could change anything that didn't work and make sure we had all the key concepts, and also made sure it would turn out the right length. When editing my piece of work, i stuck to the last half of the storyboard very well, but changed more on the first half. My story board is below: