PRELIMINARY EXERCISE & EVALUATION

This excercise presented me with the opportunity to familiarise myself with operating and positioning the camera according to the type of shot illustrated on the storyboard and this was the first opportunity we had to use the hand held microphone and boom to record sound and dialogue. My responsibilities along with the rest of the group included writing a storyboard, shooting and finally editing the piece together. Overall I was able to do this without too many problems although I made a rather basic error when I accidently allowed the boom to briefly appear in the top of a shot. I also need to work on the positioning of the camera in over-shoulder shots with regard to the rule of thirds. For the editing each of us had the chance to contribute and I have now become more familiar with the equipment. For this exercise we were introduced to the basics such as logging each clip with the 'in point' and 'out point' ready for them to be edited, then putting each clip into the correct position on the timeline and I had the chance to try this for myself. Initially I struggled a little with the editing process although once I was shown again I got a better grasp of it. For the next project however I aim to make more of a contribution to the editing process.

 This excercise presented us with our first opportunity to create a storyboard and this helped to enhance my knowledge of appropriate shot types and sizes for the sequence being produced. For this sequence a good range of shot types had to be used. This was my first chance to put what we learnt about shot sizes into practice and see if it had the desired effect such as an initial long shot setting the scene or a close-up showing a persons emotion. As mentioned earlier this exercise enabled us to use the editing machines for the first time so I learnt how they worked and the basics of editing. This will be useful for further projects when the editing and cinematography have to be genre specific. Overall after seeing the finished product I now have greater understanding of the importance of camera positioning as well as editing correctly to make sure the transitions and continuity between shots are seamless and realistic to the audience. I also learnt about the 180 degree line rule which we had to follow.

The technical quality of the finished video was overall satisfactory for the project we were undertaking with the camera movement being smooth and no major continuity errors. However the errors that were spotted gave me an idea of what needs to be improved on by the next project. If I did this exercise again I would be more careful about where I position the camera especially in over-shoulder shots and make sure that I was more vigilant with shot/reverse shot, I would also be more careful when handling the boom as when it moved it affected the quality of the sound. If we did this exercise again during the editing process I would be more vigilant about any continuity errors such as making sure a person is the same length through a door when we change shots.

Overall I think the finished sequence came across as we had planned on the original storyboard. Considering how basic this exercise was most of our ideas worked on the finished piece and the majority of what we eventually produced matched the original criteria for the exercise. The problems we experienced were to do with the positioning of the camera during shots and putting what we had planned on our storyboard into practice was slightly harder than I anticipated although the 180 degree line rule was stuck to throughout. The feedback we got was satisfactory and we were pointed out the errors with framing and shot/reverse shot. Overall it matched the previous examples that we had been show in class.

In conclusion the finished sequence turned out as we had planned with relatively few major errors. If I got the chance to do the project again I would be more vigilant with my shooting with regard to shot/reverse shot and during the editing process I would try to be more aware of any continuity errors.