Prelim Log

PRELIM EVALUATION

Pre-Production

When pre-planning our prelim task we first looked at a short basic storyline that could be adapted to any chosen location throughout the school. We came up with the idea of a heroin dealer trying to push a fellow student to buy his drugs. We first planned to do it within our Media classroom (H9) during a free period but discovered that the room was rarely free and that finding a time when it would be free at the same time me and my teammates Sam and Rosie had free periods would be difficult. So we decided to move out to the corridor outside instead.

In the corridor we planned to do the match cut with me in the hoodie opening the blue double doors and entering the corridor. We had accounted for the 180 degree rule and had planned the shot reverse shot. Also, once it had been planned out on our storyboard, we had the idea of using high angle and low angle shots to reflect power in our chosen storyline. So using our storyboard we learnt what was missing from our clip and could fill in those gaps.

However after finishing our planning we discovered we had left out a vital part of the prelim, we were missing having someone sit down opposite another. So we had to change our location because the school corridor didn’t have any chairs. We did consider changing the storyline to sitting outside the head teacher’s office due to us being in trouble but instead decided to relocate to the school refectory and use the same storyline.

It was at that point where we looked on developing the storyline with props and stereotypes. We included the prop of Sam’s work books because we needed a reason for Sam to be in the refectory alone so that the story had believability. A recent business exam had passed and so Sam still had his textbooks and it made sense for him to be in the refectory where it was quiet so he could study. Furthermore, we played on the stereotypical drug dealer. The stereotype being someone who is threatening and wears a hoodie to create that fearful vibe you’d associate with a drug dealer. We thought it was a great idea because it would give us experience on creating character and we’d be able to see how successful we were at presenting the character to the audience. This would be useful because when we look back we’ll be able to see what was effective and what was ineffective. We can then take that knowledge with us when developing the characters for our thriller.

We followed our storyboard like a script; it was really useful when it came to the production stage because prior to filming we had already planned our cinematography and where the person behind the camera would stand to film. So it made production a lot easier because it meant we just followed what we planned and it helped us keep with continuity.

Year 13s spoke to our class regarding advice on how best to make our videos, for both the prelim task and main task. They made clear how important it was to make sure your camera had full battery, which we took into account before filming with Sam’s iPhone. They also suggested tripods, which we will strongly consider when it comes to the main task. Furthermore, they spoke on continuity and mentioned factors such as weather that could have an impact on the continuity of filming. Also one of our teachers pointed out that costumes must always be the same. With this knowledge we decided that we would get all the filming done within one day to eliminate the potential problems we could run into.

Prior to planning we had also looked at other Prelim videos and got to see what worked well and what didn’t. We picked out bad points such as the camera being shaky but we also got some good ideas of how to make a storyline around the essential requirements. One of the prelim videos we saw showed an interrogation and that influenced us to include high angle and low angle shots like they did to symbolise power.

John Stammers

Production

When it came to producing we were quite well prepared. However when we came to film there were people in there cleaning up rubbish because we came in just after break. So we had to wait until they had finished and we also helped clear the rubbish from the areas we’d be filming, just in case it would interfere with continuity.

We made sure we did each scene at least 3 times so we would have more than one clip to choose from when it came to editing. Once we had recorded all our footage we checked every clip to ensure we had continuity and hadn’t missed any of the essential requirements (e.g. 180 degree rule).

Once the refectory workers had finished clearing up we began filming from outside the door. During this time we had people pass by us from time to time meaning we had to stop filming and go back a few times.

The following scene was originally going to be me coming through the door for the match cut and then stop at the bin in preparation for the following scene. However after doing this we found that the movement from the bin to the table did not flow very well so decided to do the scene with me coming through the door and the scene with me sitting opposite Sam in one. We also chose to have me doing the whole walk from outside the door through the door because we could edit it later to make the opening of the door more natural. If we had done it where I was immediately opening the door then the speed and motion of the door could have differed from the first scene and ruin continuity. One issue I noticed when we looked backed at the footage after we’d finished was that one time I opened the door with the other hand meaning we couldn’t use that clip for the final product.

Additionally, halfway through production the workers in the kitchen began to play music that was playing through the hatch. We thought it might ruin our continuity so we closed the hatch. However, after doing so, I thought: “Did we get footage of the hatch being open in any of the other clips?” It turns out we had so we had to reopen the hatch and then see if the music would affect continuity. Unfortunately, we wasted a good five minutes just trying to get the hatch back open and thinking back now we could have just kindly asked the kitchen employees to turn the music off. Although it turned out we didn’t pick up the music anyway so it was fine.

From filming we learnt about the importance of location. We discovered that the location we chose was an area that had people regularly passing by and a lot of unwanted sounds (e.g. the music from the kitchen). So when it comes to choosing the location of our thriller, it is important we consider the location so that we don’t encounter external variables that might ruin continuity. We also learnt about the positioning of the camera such as when we did a low angle shot of the drug dealer. The cameraman balanced the camera on Sam’s shoulder and helped keep the camera in the same position in the following reverse shot of the dealer. Now that we have seen the importance of keeping the camera steady and in the same place we will consider using a tripod for our thriller.

Shooting took a while due to laughing and tweaks to the original idea but we had a feeling it would take a good 45 minutes to an hour and it did. I knew it would take this long because I had made a 2 minute video a while ago to demonstrate camera shots and movements as part of a homework earlier in the course and it had taken me a whole afternoon. So I took what I had learnt from that and applied it to the prelim task and so I knew we should expect to take a good hour to film.

If we were to do the prelim task again then we’d write a script for the conversation between the dealer and the student. This is because we spent time thinking about what to say and because we had no lines to follow we found ourselves improvising and this lead to minor mistakes. So if we could do it again then we’d have a script to save time and reduce the number of potential mistake we’d make.

John Stammers

Post-Production

An issue that I discovered when editing the video was that the sound on particular recordings wasn’t brilliant and it was hard to hear the speech in clips, and when we compared it to other recordings we saw a massive difference so we had to use the software to improve the sound. Another problem that occurred was when recording for our prelim someone was having drumming lessons so we picked up all the sound from that, so we had to get rid of some of our footage. This meant that there was noise in the background of the video that was captured but wasn’t meant to be included. When editing the video I managed to pick up on other people talking and moving around in the background and someone who was having drumming lessons when we were recording video and by realising this I think it’s important to be aware of another people when doing the main task as it could potentially ruin the video. I also believe that location is important because when editing for the prelim task I could see a lot of reflections off of the glass door which could potential ruin the video and embarrass you.

We also found that some of our recordings seemed to show a lot of movement with the camera, so I had to choose different clips that we recorded instead of that particular clip and replace it, but overall as a group we didn’t seem to get that many problems when editing and found it quite straightforward which was positive for the group.

I learnt that when editing for the Prelim task it involved doing quite a bit a trimming to the recordings we captured to make a decent final video which did acquire quite a lot of time, and I believe that it’s important for when it comes to the main task because it allows us to ensure that we have enough time because we need to capture lots of video (given that you are most likely going to trim parts of your footage).

When we watched the prelim task the finished product didn’t match our first visualisation because we decided to create another storyboard when planning our ideas. Our first idea involved it being set in the H-Block but instead we switched to the refectory, and this was purely because our first idea we forgot about using table and chairs in the video and then thought the refectory was the perfect place to get tables and chairs for our prelim task.

After we planned our finished storyboard which was set in the refectory we all has a good understanding of how the final piece would look like and were happy with the finished product. We took a lot of time concentrating on the storyboard to be as realistic as we could and include as much detail that was required to produce the video.

Positive feedback was that the costumes and props were good; for example John was wearing a hoody, acting as the antagonist, and the clip at the table, you can spot books and paper, portraying the character as someone that’s revising or working. Other positive feedback was that the storyline was creative and original and took into consideration mise-en-scene. You could also see a variety of shots such as shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule and match on action, with high angle and low angled shots included in the video. The Year 13’s also mentioned that there were good clean cut good panning in our video. When I showed this video to some Year 13’s they compared it to other Prelim’s and said it was the best out of them all.

However the negatives from the audience were that it needed more action to make it more exciting. They also thought that we needed to see the shoulder of the other character in the shot reverse shot to show more presence and to maybe create more suspense in the shot, and also possibly change the positioning of the bin where John kicks it as it seems to get in the way when he tries to leave the room.

Sam Ranaghan