Evaluation Activity 7

*Disclaimer: All screen grabs are taken from Zach's blog, the analysis that accompanys each photo on the slide is his own work, and I have used the slide to demonstrate the effect of the shots in an illustrative manner. The analysis was not intended to accompany the images but due to technical difficulties the analysis does accompany the images. All analysis shown in the powerpoint screen grab's is Zach's own work and should not be attributed as my work.*

"Looking back on your preliminary Task what do you feel you have learnt from the progression of it to your full, complete task?"


I feel that given the strengths of our preliminary task, we had little to do in our main task other than consolidate our newly acquired skill set and to put these into a solid form of practice for the main task. I feel that given our improvement in camera angle choices our task really benefitted in better experience of choosing the correct camera angles and a wider range of camera angles that had been demonstrated in the preliminary task. During the main task, the group was able to make full effective use of the 180 degree rule, match on action shot and the Shot reverse shot, some of which complete mastery of certain areas was lacking in our preliminary task.

  

   For example, in this shot the character is out of focus with detail lacking in observing the character’s facial features. The general feeling of the preliminary task was largely inanimate, due to the lack of varied and interesting camera shots that were used. However, during our main task we were careful to make sure that the character is centralised in the shot if for example, they needed to be walking somewhere to complete a task as this ensured that they remained in close detail and focus when on camera.

 

The camera shots used within our main task were somewhat different to those we used in the Preliminary task in that we were able to once again successfully implement use of the 180 degree rule to effectively film a conversation between two characters. It was through our successful filming of the conversation making full use of the 180 degree rule that meant that audience comprehension as to what was taking place on screen did not become an overshadowing issue.

 

The match on action shot, whilst being used effectively in both tasks, was used to a greater effect I feel in the main task as we used it to add tension and serve a purpose in the main task, whereas, in the Preliminary Task the Match on Action shot failed to really add to the narrative of the piece, with the fact becoming quite overt that the Match on Action shot was only really placed in the scene due to necessity rather than editorial choice.

The use of the shot reverse shot in the preliminary task, much like the match on action shot, did little to actually add to the scene in the preliminary task with attention being drawn to the fact that the shot was placed in the task out of a necessity to uphold the requirements of the task, whereas by contrast in the main task the shot reverse shot served a far greater purpose of adding suspense and a further viewpoint to the action in our chase sequence.

I feel that through the progression from Preliminary Task to main Task, not only has our camerawork greatly improved but also have our editing skills which during the preliminary task were of a limited and impractical range with only very limited use of the editing software being made due to our lack of experience and our inexperience in editing becoming prevalent to the viewer due to the ‘jumpy’ and ‘rough’ and jagged nature of the cut. Whereas, in our main task I feel that the cut has a very contemporary and modern flow to it, with the action moving at a rapid pace to help speed along the narrative of the piece for audience members.

In conclusion, I feel that as a group in general we have made a huge leap forward in terms of our editing and practical skills as we have become vastly more experienced within the art of editing as well as refining our technique on camera work so the piece had an overtly advanced feel to it from a crew who were confident in their abilities and understanding of the technology at their disposal. I hope that this is what becomes apparent on account of viewing our final piece in stark contrast to that of our Preliminary Task.