Prelim task- film and evaluation

What went well and what went wrong
Our locations that we used for filming were original and added an element of uniqueness to our film. The churchyard aids in adding context to the story. Another good thing about our prelim task is that we included a storyboard, a shooting schedule and a production diary. This enabled us to keep on top of all of the shots we needed to still do, and reflect on how our group was progressing.

The time that we had to film was rather limited, as the planning stage took up most of the time we had. Another issue we had was continuity. One scene where we have two shots that merge together to form a seamless seaquence did not exactly line up and match, therefore creating a slight jump in the final edit of the footage, ruining continuity.

Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?
I worked with Sam Hooper and Katie Dunning. We split the tasks up between us, where I did the shooting schedule and the filming, Katie did the production diary and storyboard and Sam did the script and was the main actor. We all had an input on the editing, with me doing the cuts and the others giving me advice and suggestions.

How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use?
We planned our sequence by using a number of shooting schedules and a storyboard. This was so that we could properly organise every single shot and agree on what props we would need for each shooting day.

What factors did you take into account when planning, shooting and editing?
We took into account the time of day, the weather and also how busy our locations would be when we were filming. Editing would have to take place on a specific computer, so we had to make sure that that computer was free when we wanted to use it.

What did others say about your production?
Other classmates said that our shots were varied and high quality, but they did mention how the camera shook slightly in some scenes, which does draw your attention away from the actual story.

What have you learnt from completing this task?
I have learnt that time management is very hard. Allowing certain time slots for specific tasks is quite stressful as you then have only that time to complete it.

Filming task-Juno

            
Here is an edit of footage to match the original clip shown in the bottom right corner.

Evaluation
The footage I used in this video was all filmed by our group. The filming began as being quite time consuming, with us taking into consideration all of the different shots and framing up each scene perfectly, but over time we managed to speed up and finish on time. The storyboard I made was very detailed, including the length of each shot and the types of frames etc. I managed to keep the storyboard accurate to the original clip, but this did not always correlate to the actual clips that we filmed. We did manage to get all of the clips that we needed to complete the video, but it did take multiple tries in order to get the shot right. Some effects that I used in the editing stage include "find edges" which I used to create the cartoon effect, I did have issues with the effect at first, but after I blended it with the raw footage, it began to look more like the actual Juno clip.

Big budget vs. Small budget films

Film pitch feedback

Our film pitch gained mostly positive feedback with our average score out of ten being around the 8 mark. The feedback for our film title is that it is relevant to the film and also interesting. The shortness of the title means that it is catchy as well, meaning it is easily remembered. The cast feedback was also positive as many people liked the fact that we had an all British cast, seeing as the film is set in Tudor England. This helps to keep the authenticity of the accents in our film. The plot of our film was more of a split, regarding opinions. Whilst some thought that it was a unique and interesting plot idea, others thought it would be a slightly boring storyline with not much to expand on.

To improve next time, we could choose a film idea that may be more safe in terms of successfulness. If we aim for the film to be targeted towards a wider range of university students rather than the high intellectuals, it will increase the likelihood of ticket sales.

Film pitch

Here is my group's film pitch.

Boyz n the Hood analysis

The first 6 minutes of Boyz n the Hood is set in a rough neighbourhood in Los Angeles where the main themes revolve around violence. There is huge amounts of crime in this clip, with the main characters coming across a murder scene that has been taped off by the police. You can also see elements of gang activity with the group of men illegally gambling on the street which leads to one of them getting assaulted by the others. The main characters are young, lower-class black kids who are beginning to be influenced by the environment in which they live.

The lighting is bright and natural which completely contrasts the themes of violence in the first six minutes. This shows connotations of hope and a better life for these kids, if they can get out of the bad neighbourhood they live in.

Audience

What do we mean when we use the word "film"?
Film is the plastic, photosensitive wrap used to store images and clips that can be spliced together to create a movie.


Do you think it means the same as the word "movie"?
A movie is the end product of using film.


What about the word "Cinema"?
The word cinema relates to the venue at which these films are played in to an audience.

Top Ten Movies:
Deadpool
Die Hard
Guardians of the galaxy
The matrix
Ghostbusters
Star wars: The force awakens
Skyfall
Monty Python's life of Brian
Kingsman: Secret service
Mean girls

What these films have in common:
Most of these 10 films include some sort of action, either being from surreal things like superheroes or monsters, or from real life situations (like Die Hard). Spy films are also a favourite of mine, with the James Bond franchise being very interesting and also newer films like Kingsman and even Johnny English. Ones that don't fit in include Mean Girls and Life of Brian, which I enjoy due to the comedy that is featured in them.