Preliminary Task

For our preliminary task we had to film a scene in which a person enters through a door, walks over to a person already in the room and start a conversation with them. It had to show a variation of shots and angles and we had to make sure we stuck to the 180 degree rule. We worked in groups of four, my group consisted of myself, Millie, Evie and Kate. Our scenario featured two teachers, one of whom set to get married but confesses she cannot go through with it due to the fact that her fiancé beats her.

Camera Work

On a whole I think a majority of our shots were precise and successful. Some more than others, for example...
  

This close up shot was used when the bride to be stated that "she couldn't do it" I think the use of this shot was effective because it allowed the viewers to see her facial expressions clearly and sympathise with her. Even without the use of a tripod this shot was steady which I think helped make our preliminary video more professional as a whole.

This two person mid shot was also successful. It makes it clear who the conversation is between and we can get an idea on how they are feeling because we are able to see their body language, for example, the bride to be who gets beaten is slouched and touching her face, suggesting a dull mood and anxiousness. Similarly, we can see the other teacher she is confided in is sat upright and fiddling with her hands, suggesting she is worried for the bride to be. 

One not so successful shot is this extreme close up of the bruise. I think it needed to be even closer to show finer detail of the bruise. The fact that it isn't as a close as it needed to be also means that a bit of paper is visible in the bottom of the screen which I think looks a little bit unprofessional. However, we have learnt from this and now will make sure to check shots over on the camera and possibly re-do them before uploading them to the computer.

Editing

We didn't go too over board with the editing on our preliminary as it was our first time using iMovie therefore we decided just to use the basic tools to get a feel for the software. We did however trim down some of our clips to remove any unnecessary parts such as the 5 second count down before filming something and after. We also added in 2 soundtracks and placed them on appropriate areas of our video. We faded the entrance of each song and the end of each song to get a smoother finish. We spent a lot of time focusing on our continuity editing in scenes such as when Millie opens and enters the door, we wanted it to look as realistic and smooth as possible. However, there is a scene in which Millie is walking up the stairs and then it quickly cuts to her at the top of the stairs, this was an error of ours with the continuity editing. Although this was a little disadvantage on the video we now know for next time to look very closely at each shot and make sure it matches up correctly.

Mise en scene

We used a few mise en scene features such as makeup to create a realistic looking bruise and we also ensured our clothes were business like to ensure we fit the roles of teachers. I feel it was important to pay attention to small details like this because it made our video more believable and managed to show things without us actually stating it. For example, the bride to be didn't actually have to say "look at my bruise" she just showed it which I thought was effective because it built tension and allows viewers to see it for themselves, potentially shocking them.

I feel we were able to build suspense in numerous areas of our preliminary video. One good example of where suspense is visible is when the bride to be says "I don't know how to say it, it's easier if I just show you" prior to this we have no idea she is being abused or what is making her second think the wedding at all so when the idea of the audience being shown something arises, we begin to frantically wonder what she is going to show, we wonder what is making her want to call off her wedding so badly.

Did we forget to do anything?

We did forget to do a few minor things such as use artificial lighting. Some scenes are noticeably darker than others and I think this takes away from it running as smoothly as it could. Although we  did enhance the darker scenes, you could still tell there was a slight difference. The use of artificial light may have made for an overall better video.

Feedback from teacher 

Whilst editing, our teacher came round to watch our video. Whilst she said she thought the overall video was successful and ran smoothly, there was one part which showed a slight continuity error. We took this constructive criticism on board and will pay closer attention to our continuity whilst making our Horror Film.

Own feelings towards the preliminary video

Overall, I was very pleased with our final preliminary video. It was our first time properly editing a video and it really helped us in being able to film certain shots correctly. I think my group worked very efficiently together and we all took each others ideas into consideration, I would definitely work in the same group again. I think if we were to do it again, we would ensure that we had good lighting and also keep a close eye on all the editing to make sure that the video runs smoothly as a whole. We stuck well to the brief which I think helped us as to create the best piece possible. The soundtracks used fit well with the general theme of the video and was able to help the audience understand it if they didn't already.