Evaluation - Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Looking back at our preliminary task piece I now realize how stupidly simple it was, we used very, very simple editing techniques that I took care of at home on Sony Vegas Pro 11, techniques limited to literally cutting down clips and adding in music. I also looped the noise of a cricket for too long and held still frames. for our preliminary task we used side angle shots, we had a big close up on a door handle, wide angle shots and and incredibly shaky panning shot done by putting a camera on my skateboard.

We thought a lot about how to present each of characters through mise en scene and lighting especially but also through the use of editing and sound in our film opening. However during the making of our preliminary task piece we didn't really think about any of that, instead we just focused on the representations of costume, whereas use of lighting was very important for use especially during the villain scenes which needed to be dark with one small, low key, white light source. I feel that body language and facial expression were presented quite well in our film opening as we had to concentrate on making our hero and villain completely opposite in every way. However in our preliminary task body language was not important as all there was, was a small amount of dialogue in which and a small amount of pacing, this was fairly easy to create.

The editing I did for the Preliminary was very basic and i feel I have really stepped up my game when it came to editing the film opening. I feel I've learnt a lot from editing the Film opening because if you compare the editing techniques use from that with the techniques used in the Preliminary task you can see I have matured greatly from that. Previously I used Sony Vegas Pro and edited it all together in a mere hour and a half whereas the editing for the Film opening took weeks to complete. For the Preliminary task all I did was trim shots and put them together. I managed to hold still frames and add in cheesy sound affects both downloaded from youtube. However for the Film opening I used Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and learnt loads of different techniques.

We relied solely on dialogue to get our plot across to the viewer in our Preliminary piece as there was little other sound and there wasn't much important mise en scene, sound or camera techniques to focus on except for the fact that it is obvious that our main character is a young girl in a classroom and the fact that she is on her own, this is also emphasized by the used of the cricket chirping sound effect as it dramatizes the fact that the plush toy not responding as it is not alive.

I think we have come a long way and have learned a lot and gained a lot of skills from creating our Film opening by using with more advanced editing software and using more editing, mise en scene, sound and camera techniques. 

Preliminary Task - Textual Analysis

Mise En Scene

• Right at the begining when Kirby is pacing we can tell that this is set in a school as there are displays on the walls which is typical for a classroom to have
• When Kirby is pacing up and down we see that the classroom is empty which hints to us that she's plotting world domination in her spare time eg. Lunch time or Break time
• The stuffed toy that Kirby is talking to is clearly her best friend. This makes us feel sorry for her as she has no other friends and spends her spare time talking to toys
• She's wearing thick rimmed glasses which are often associated with 'geeks'
• I have a smart suit on (looking fly as f*ck) along with a staff badge which shows that my character is a member of staff and has a greater authority than Kirby's character
• High key lighting makes us feel asthough this is just another average school day and it's normal for Kirby's character to be spending her time in this way
• My bodylanguage, ie dragging my feet shows that my character, like most teachers, is not too fond of his job

Sound

• The dialogue of "I have a plan," makes the audience question her thought track and wonder what it is she's planning about
• after revealing the topic of the plan the non-diegetic, empasizing noise adds to the comic affect
• the repeating of "hmm" and "What to do?" as she paces shows she does in fact not have a plan and makes the audience feel asthough she may be a bit dimwitted
• Kirby's mode of address to the toy is as thought she is having a conversation with it.
• She after saying something to it the responds as if the toy is talking back to her
• The addition of the non-diegetic cricket noise emphasizes the lack of repsonse from the toy
• The diegetic door handle squeak empashizes the quietness of the environment
• The confused, suprised tone in my voice shows that my character isn't accustomed to this type of weird occurence perhaps connoting that my character leads quite a boring, uneventful life
• Kirby's shocked, embaressed tone as she repsonds to the teacher having walked in and questioned her makes the audience feel sorry for her having just been found out as being weird and lonely

Camera

• The clip opens with a close of Kirby's face from side profile as she is looking out of the window
• The shot remains the same but she turns so that her face is big in the center of the frame as she says something dramatic
• A long shot is used to show the room is empty and Kirby being in the distance implies her character's emotional distance from everyone
• A mid shot is used to show Kirby's character at the table with her toy this has been done to easily show her talking to the toy as if it is sentient
• Close ups on the faces have been used to indicate that to Kirby's character this is a normal conversation and the toy is in fact alive which makes the toy seem like a character rather than a prop
• a tracking shot of my feet was used to show my character's importance

Editing

• The moderately short takes of Kirby's character being weird increases tension showing she only has a limited amount of time before being discovered as a loser
• A match on action has been used as Kirby sits down in her chair showing that to her the conversation with this toy is important which again makes the audience sympathise with her as she sees this plush toy as a friend
• The match on action as i open the door creates tension as it shows that my character is going to catch kirby's being weird



Preliminary Task - Final Piece

This is our preliminary task piece, filmed and starred in by me and Kirby and filmed mainly by Imogen with help from me and Kirby.

I'm still not happy with the different video sizes and the tracking shot of the feet but I feel this is alright because
1. we aren't getting marked on this piece at all and 
2. this could just be a draft and we can fix that for the actual piece.

Preliminary Task - Actual Editing

I ended up doing all the editing at home on my own as i had trouble getting the files to school thanks to Google drive. I edited the clips together using my own, personal choice of audio-video editing software Sony Vegas Pro 11 which I use to edit all my loser gaming videos that are all on my youtube.

I feel i edited the video clips together quite well and i added in sound effects, held frames (by taking snapshots and holding them for a few seconds) and learnt how to turn down the volume on particular little clips so as to get rid of the awful, awful noise of my skateboard bearings because we used my skateboard to achieve the tracking shot of my feet. I'm quite happy with the final product however the Match on action of the door could've been edited together better, the aspect ratios on some of the scenes are different to others and a few frames and little sounds of crickets are held too long.

Preliminary Task - Editing

Due to Google Drive being annoying and not letting me download loads of files - we weren't able to edit the clips for our actual preliminary task piece but Kirby has lent me her memory stick and we should be able to do the editing in our double free period tomorrow however Imogen has a lesson then so me and Kirby will have to edit it without her. (this isn't a problem as Imogen is hopelessly confused when it comes to anything computer related)

Preliminary Task - Film Clips 2

Filming on day 2 went much better, instead of filming every scene well twice we filmed them each once but if it wasn't good did it again so that we only had each scene filmed and acted well, once which made the filming process easier and quicker. i also preferred filming on the second day as i had to no acting and it was all down to Kirby i just helped Imogen with some Camera Angles and gave Kirby feedback on the acting and stuff, which made the day really easy on me as i was only in school that day for media, so i got to go home straight after this was all filmed

Our second and probably final day of filming, along with the footage from the previous filming we think we'll have enough for the whole video.It is a bit of a problem that this is 16:9 and the other video clips are 4:3 we can either leave that or if we can, then fix it but it doesn't matter too much because this isn't being marked.

Preliminary Task - Film Clips 1

After one day of filming, this is what we have got, now I watch it back I'm doubtful that very much of footage this will be useful but I don't know yet. Also it appears the camera was on the wrong setting and filmed at an aspect ratio or 4:3 instead of 16:9. If we can switch the aspect ratio to 16:9 then most of the footage (excluding the outtakes) will be usable with exception to the tracking shot of my feet walking because the video is too shaky and out of focus due to the shakiness of my skateboard, also the loudness of my bearings in my wheels may be a problem but i think we'll be able to edit it out 

Preliminary Task - Planning

Initial plan plus ideas for individual scenes

Incredibly drawn storyboard done by myself including shot type information plus dialogue and other information 

These photos suck, blame it on Apple.

The plan and the story were thought of by Imogen which is why the video is going to be so weird. This is what craziness goes through her mind