Evaluation activity 8 - What targets will you set yourself for G324 next year - when you will make a trailer?

A target which I will set myself for next year's course (G324) would be to use a tripod when filming. This will help me to stabilize the footage, therefore making the film look more professional and the quality to improve. I think that by using a tripod would allow use to edit the film better as the footage would be still and clear meaning that we could try and eliminate the amount of jump cuts which we have. Also, by using a tripod we would be able to move it better without the footage becoming shaky and look out of focus the whole time.

I would also set the target of making sure to complete before it all gets to much as I found that we were rushing to get the film made this year and that we could have made it better having given ourselves more time. However, we had a limit because we wanted to film at our sixth form and the week which we were filming was the last week of school and so we did have to rush to finish it. We could have filmed more before this week but our characters in the film took different subjects and so during free's meant that filming was limited. This could also be another target of using actors who both have time on their hands to make sure that the filming could have been done over a longer period of time. This would allow us to actually have the time to sit and plan each and every shot we were using before going out and filming the part of the film. 

Also, I would set the target of making sure the lighting was correct in the camera before recording because it would allow us to not have to re-film other parts to fit in with other clips. If we had checked the lighting on the camera, we would have saved time in the filming process because we would not have to re-film any parts. We could also make sure the sound was correct in the camera before recording because we assumed that it was okay but when it came to editing, we found that the sound was much to loud and that it was hard to hear what the characters are saying. Having said this, the common room was quite busy and so we wanted the background noise to make it seem like it was a collage setting therefore suggesting why we left it in. We had to make sure that the soundtrack music was lower than the dialogue but in order to successfully do this, we had to lower the volume so it could barely be heard and then increase the volume of the characters speaking which made it seem like they were shouting and also the background noise in the common room was too loud. Next year we would make sure that the setting would be quieter and if we needed the added background noise we would add this as a voice over as it would mean we could control the volume of it. 

I would personally set the target of making sure I fully understand the editing software so it does not take as long to edit our film. We found that both of us were trying to figure out how to use certain tools in the first few hours of editing that we actually lost those hours of editing. As we have used Adobe Premiere Elements 10 this year, I think that when it comes to editing next year, I would know where tools are and the best layout for the editing process. I would also know how to fade sound in and out and also the best transitions to use so that our product looks theatrical and the best quality it can be. 

The final target which I would set myself for next year is to not over-complicate things. I think that some shots which we included was to complicated for the genre of a romance film. We could have eliminated some clips so that it suited better for the genre and also add in some different clips that conform to the conventions of a romance film. We confused ourselves a lot throughout the editing process and so by not making things complicated would mean that we would have an easier task when it came to editing. We would be able to make the film run smoothly without any jump cuts in the film. 

Evaluation activity 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Having watched our preliminary task

I think that we have progressed as in this clip, it seems quite jumpy and also the sound isn't all that clear. Once we learnt how to increase the volume of the dialogue in our two minutes we found that it was easier to hear. Unfortunately, we also made the sound a little too loud in the opening two minutes so it also sounded quite fuzzy. We also didn't include a range of shots in this footage which I think we successfully done in our opening two minutes.

However, in this footage, I think the camera was a lot more stable because we made sure we held the camera completely still whereas in the opening two minutes, our clip contained moments where the footage was really shaky. This can be resolved next year by using a tripod.

The lighting in this footage is quite dull whereas in our film it was much brighter which also conforms to the conventions of a romance film. We found that by having a brighter light meant that it was clearer to see the characters. However, in some areas the light was too bright and made the footage look blurry. This can be resolved next year by making sure that the lighting is suitable before recording as if we done this we would not have the harsh lights in the background. It would also mean that we would not have to re-film any points of our film, potentially creating more jump cuts. These would become more obvious because the lighting between two shots would change. 

I feel that we have both progressed far from what we were first producing. I think that what we were producing at the start of this course was more jumpy and not as stable as some of the shots which we have in our film. There is only one particular part in our film that is very shaky. We decided that by walking with the character the audience would understand more about the character, however we did not think of the consequences of the shaky footage. If we had used a tripod it would have improved the footage from the start. Also, the camera which we used in our preliminary task was a better quality as the one which we used for our actual film was an older version. We thought that because we already had a camera that going to buy another one would be not be necessary but in actual fact, it would have made the quality of our film better. We would have also made sure that the characters were not shouting to be heard as this made the sound become harsh and in the preliminary task, the sound was much better. However, the overall two minute footage which we created is something that we think we have achieved from progressing over the period of the course. 

We have also included some of the different types of editing techniques in our film which we also used in our preliminary task. We used shot reverse shot, match on action and also tried to conform to the 180 degree rule but in our actual film we ended up breaking this in one part. As the characters were leaving the common room we were one side of them and as they were outside the common room, the camera was on the other side. We did not notice this until we watched it back after editing the film. I think that because we successfully completed the preliminary task we were able to use the range of techniques in our film to make it more professional and also to make it look a better quality

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Evaluation activity 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Adobe Premiere Elements 10
This is the software where we edited our footage. This was quite hard to start off with because we didn't know our way around the software meaning that editing our film took a while. We found that once we got used to it, editing became a lot easier as we started to become quicker and more confident in cutting certain parts and also adding in music. As we both had never used an editing software, we were both unsure of how this was going to go, but to our surprise the outcome turned out to be good. We do have a few jump cuts in the film due to not fully understanding how to move clips over. We found that lowering the volume was difficult and also making sure that the dialogue could still be heard over background noise. This did not really work because in our film, sound is probably the biggest issue which we faced. Once we found out how to lower volume and fade in music to make it seem more romantic, we found that it was easier to edit our film. We also had to apply different transitions to the film where we made the film look more theatrical. An example of this would be in our titles by using additive dissolve. We also had to use a fade to black shot as this helped to make it seem more like an opening rather than a trailer.

Photoshop

We used photoshop to create the black backgrounds for our titles. We found that this would be the easiest software to use for this particular task because we just had to select the paint bucket and the colour black and apply it to the background. We then saved this photo so we could add the titles in when we were in Adobe Premiere Elements 10. We also used photoshop to create the main titles 'The Lost Locket' because we thought that this way we could change the colour and the font more easily than we could in Adobe Premiere Elements 10. We added in the colours red and white as this was a common feature of the titles in romance films.



YouTube
We used the website YouTube to upload our clip and also some of the extra clips such as the diary of filming and the 'behind the scenes' type of films. These were only short but we created them so that we could explain what we were doing on the days which we were filming. We have both experienced YouTube and so uploading our film on there was not a hard task. It took some time in the process because beforehand we had to render the film on Adobe Premiere Elements 10 and make sure that the file we were saving the film in was compatible with YouTube. We did get confused at times because it took us a while to know what the file had to be saved in, but once we knew we uploaded it straight away.

 

Evaluation activity 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

We added annotations to our opening to show the reasons behind each of our shots and to also highlight the key elements that were shown. This includes the sound, costume, camera composition and also some of the editing behind it. We highlighted the strengths and some weaknesses of the film such as the jump cut towards the end. This provides an overview of our film and also picks out key features which we thought worked well.

We decide to highlight a bad point as we thought that this was one area which we needed to improve. We think that by doing this we can look back at it next year to see the elements which could be improved. For example, editing the footage so there isn't as many jump cuts and also making sure the sound is not too harsh.

Evaluation 3 - Directors Commentry

We based our directors commentary on the reading of our film. Below is the reading:

We introduce the opening to the lost locket by the production credit, which was called 'Cloud Productions'. It was then complimented by G321 FILMS as the secondary title, which was the image of an old camera from black and white, faded into colour. We used the transitions additive dissolve as we thought that this would be the most theatrical transition to use. We then added paired titles to introduce the films, which shows production credits and also who was behind the film in terms of editing and directing. We then had our main title introduced. This was just a black background and white and red writing. 'The Lost' was written in white to connote innocence and purity and 'Locket' was written in red to connote love and passion. We then had the soundtrack playing in the background at this point with the acoustic guitar. We faded the music in so it did not seem harsh or abrupt. Our next shot was of the female protagonist entering the shot. This started out as a medium shot but as she walked closer it turned into a close up shot. We thought that this way the audience gains a sense of what she is like by the way she dresses and the emotions she is showing through facial expressions. We then used a tracking shot of the female protagonist as she is walking down the road to school. We followed her from behind so that the audience could see where she was heading and the setting we would then later introduce. We then moved to the front of the female protagonist as she continued to walk. We thought that this would be effective because the audience would then also see or gain a sense of where she is going. At this point we started the voice over so that it seemed like the female protagonist was talking directly to the audience. We started it off with personal pronoun 'You' so that we related to the audience on a personal level. This would engage the audience more as they would feel connected to that character. Whilst the voice over was playing, we included a clip of where the female protagonist looks across the road to see the male protagonist. We then carried the footage to following the female protagonist using a medium shot. We cut to the female protagonist entering the school where she signs herself in. We used a close up shot so that the audience could clearly see what was going on. At this point the voice over is still playing explaining her situation. The camera then cuts to a scene of the female protagonist walking down the hallway of the school as she is taking in her surroundings. The voice over stops with the line 'trying to find my way around' which is what the female protagonist is showing in the footage. The female protagonist then enters the common room where the camera follows, using a tracking shot, her walking over to a table where she sits down by herself. The music is introduced immediately after the voice over stops, again being faded in. We then had to lower the volume of the music so that the when the friend of the female protagonist began talking it became clearer to hear. We used a tracking shot following the friend, Miranda, over to the female protagonist, Leola. The then used an over the shoulder shot to get Miranda in the shot as she began talking. We then used shot reverse shot to succeed the conversation. We then used a long shot to show both Leola and Miranda walking off to their lessons together. The camera tracks them as they walk from the table then cuts to as they are walking through the doors. We then used a low angle shot showing them walking upstairs and cut to a high angle shot as they were turning the corner. This proved very effective although we thought we should have used a different shot in between the two so that it didn't jump as much. We then used match on action to show Miranda opening the door to their classroom. We had some people in the background to make it seem more like a classroom. The camera then used a medium shot and tracked Miranda walking over to her seat and asking Leola to sit with her. The camera then shows Leola walking towards Miranda in a medium shot. The camera then cuts to the door again where, in a medium long shot, the male protagonist, Alex, walks in. The camera focuses on him looking over his shoulder. We then used a close up to show Leola looking over at him smiling. This shows her emotion through her facial expressions. We used this to create an enigma code for the audience as they will want to know if they enter a relationship or if they just remain friends. To end the opening, we used a close up of Miranda telling Leola his name and how everyone in the school admires him. We used this to suggest that Miranda may of had a past with Alex without telling anyone. The last line in the opening is 'Oh, you know him?' suggesting that Leola wants to know more about him and also leaves an enigma code for the audience. The music then fades out alongside the footage.


Here we have briefly explained what is happening throughout the film with a narrative over the top of the footage:

We have talked about the parts which we included and why and also talked about parts which we thought did not work as well. We cover all four technical areas by saying about sound, mise en scene, camera composition and also editing. 

Reading of our opening two minutes

We introduce the opening to the lost locket by the production credit, which was called 'Cloud Productions'. It was then complimented by G321 FILMS as the secondary title, which was the image of an old camera from black and white, faded into colour. We used the transitions additive dissolve as we thought that this would be the most theatrical transition to use. We then added paired titles to introduce the films, which shows production credits and also who was behind the film in terms of editing and directing. We then had our main title introduced. This was just a black background and white and red writing. 'The Lost' was written in white to connote innocence and purity and 'Locket' was written in red to connote love and passion. We then had the soundtrack playing in the background at this point with the acoustic guitar. We faded the music in so it did not seem harsh or abrupt. Our next shot was of the female protagonist entering the shot. This started out as a medium shot but as she walked closer it turned into a close up shot. We thought that this way the audience gains a sense of what she is like by the way she dresses and the emotions she is showing through facial expressions. We then used a tracking shot of the female protagonist as she is walking down the road to school. We followed her from behind so that the audience could see where she was heading and the setting we would then later introduce. We then moved to the front of the female protagonist as she continued to walk. We thought that this would be effective because the audience would then also see or gain a sense of where she is going. At this point we started the voice over so that it seemed like the female protagonist was talking directly to the audience. We started it off with personal pronoun 'You' so that we related to the audience on a personal level. This would engage the audience more as they would feel connected to that character. Whilst the voice over was playing, we included a clip of where the female protagonist looks across the road to see the male protagonist. We then carried the footage to following the female protagonist using a medium shot. We cut to the female protagonist entering the school where she signs herself in. We used a close up shot so that the audience could clearly see what was going on. At this point the voice over is still playing explaining her situation. The camera then cuts to a scene of the female protagonist walking down the hallway of the school as she is taking in her surroundings. The voice over stops with the line 'trying to find my way around' which is what the female protagonist is showing in the footage. The female protagonist then enters the common room where the camera follows, using a tracking shot, her walking over to a table where she sits down by herself. The music is introduced immediately after the voice over stops, again being faded in. We then had to lower the volume of the music so that the when the friend of the female protagonist began talking it became clearer to hear. We used a tracking shot following the friend, Miranda, over to the female protagonist, Leola. The then used an over the shoulder shot to get Miranda in the shot as she began talking. We then used shot reverse shot to succeed the conversation. We then used a long shot to show both Leola and Miranda walking off to their lessons together. The camera tracks them as they walk from the table then cuts to as they are walking through the doors. We then used a low angle shot showing them walking upstairs and cut to a high angle shot as they were turning the corner. This proved very effective although we thought we should have used a different shot in between the two so that it didn't jump as much. We then used match on action to show Miranda opening the door to their classroom. We had some people in the background to make it seem more like a classroom. The camera then used a medium shot and tracked Miranda walking over to her seat and asking Leola to sit with her. The camera then shows Leola walking towards Miranda in a medium shot. The camera then cuts to the door again where, in a medium long shot, the male protagonist, Alex, walks in. The camera focuses on him looking over his shoulder. We then used a close up to show Leola looking over at him smiling. This shows her emotion through her facial expressions. We used this to create an enigma code for the audience as they will want to know if they enter a relationship or if they just remain friends. To end the opening, we used a close up of Miranda telling Leola his name and how everyone in the school admires him. We used this to suggest that Miranda may of had a past with Alex without telling anyone. The last line in the opening is 'Oh, you know him?' suggesting that Leola wants to know more about him and also leaves an enigma code for the audience. The music then fades out alongside the footage.

Peer assessment of our film

Within this footage, our peers gave us feedback of what they thought was a good element of our film and also what one thing they would change.
We had a lot of positive feedback saying how we used a wide range of shots but the common feature that came up was the fact how we needed to stabilize the footage so that it was not shaky.

Some strengths which we received were:

• It was easily identified as a romantic film due to the looks over the shoulder.
• Camera work was very professional as there wasn't much jump cutting.
• The use of the cut when walking upstairs was good.
• Following the protagonist so the audience felt like they were there with her.
• The setting suited the film.
• The use of match-on-action was good. 
• The way we introduced the female character made it seem like she was lonely showing that the audience can relate when starting a new school.

Some areas which needed improving were:

• A conversation so that the audience can clearly see the protagonist.
• If we used a tripod to stop the shakiness of the footage.
• Used more close ups and establishing shots.
• The background noise was very loud so it was very difficult to hear the conversations.

These are all points which can be improved next year as it will mean that we know what the weaknesses of this particular film were when it comes to what we are making next year.