When we got set our premilinary task, our first task was to put together our ideas, and come up with a scene which has good continuity and shows a range of shots including shot-reverse shot and match on action. Within our group we desided that we wanted to create a scene where the viewer is unaware of what is going on until a final punch line at the end. Mission Impossible style. So, from here we created our story board and put together shots of the feet walking (close-up), and finally a tilt and pan shot to reveal the mystery man's face who delivers the 'goods'. We also had the idea of doing a high angle shot to create the effect of a cctv camera.
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Our first shot was the close-up of the feet walking. In order to get this low close up to run smoothly we brought in a skate-board and pushed it along in time with the pace. However, we had problems with the white balance and vibrations and had to re-take the shot several times. One of the difficulties we had were students walking through our set and the noise from classrooms, however we managed to fit our filming into our time schedule and a room was free.Another problem we had was with the microphone and not being able to hear certain noises we wanted over the background noises e.g. Fingers strumming and footsteps. During our filming of the conversation we had to keep to the 180 degree rule and make sure the eye level was the same on each shot. I think we did this well, but we could of made it more accurate.
At the end of our filming we had problems with our make-up prop, and keeping the continuity. The problem with the make up was that if Dan didnt do the shot perfectly we would have to make sure all of the make up was removed inorder to start over and keep the continuity.One major problem was clothing, either we forgot to wear the same clothes, or things like zips and toggles weren't the same, however this is an unavoidable problem.
Post-Production Process
When editing our shots in Adobe Premier Pro, one problem we had was with the 8th and 9th shot and fitting them together. The two shots together didnt provide enough continuity and it was hard to cut them in the right places so there wasn't a jump between the shots. After many experiements with these two shots we managed to get as close as we could to a smooth transfer, but if we had the time we would of had to retake the shots and pay more attention to the placement of George's feet and the pace of his walk. Another problem we had was choosing which shots to use out the many takes we had. The fast pace of the placing of the suitcase on the table meant that there were quick cuts and we didnt know whether many of them would be needed, resulting in cutting out most of our shots. However, with the shots we have used we have come up with a well structured, smooth clip with good continuity and shows all the essential shots needed for this task.
Feedback and Evaluation
I really enjoyed this task, and it has helped me to learn how to use the equipment and also use our time wisely and structure what we have to do. It has also helped me to take into account certain problems with continuity, white balance, noise and general levelling of shots during filming and will therefore save time in later filming. Overall, for a first task, i think that our preliminary task went really well and as i have never dont editing or filming before, i am really pleased with what we as a group have come up with. There are parts that could do with improving, a few shot transitions, however with the lack of time and experiance we were not able to do this.
