Evaluation Activity 7 - 'What We've Learnt' - Final

In the preliminary task, we used (I think) iMovie in order to clip together the video that we had recorded, and we learnt little to nothing about the process other than keeping the shots continuous (i.e. specific frames leading to specific frames). However, in the film opening we learnt how to use a far superior program (Adobe After Effects CS4), in our opinion, that we found had several effects that could be applied to the videos that benefited in the end, helped along no doubt by having a friendly interface to go along with it.

The continuity of shots was also something we were introduced to in the preliminary task, but expanded on when it came to shooting the film opening. There were a heavy amount of continuity errors in the original that we didn’t really contemplate until we were editing it, such as the changing of Dale’s costume between shots due to filming on different days – a problem we learnt to avoid by planning out the different aspects of the filming, including costume, set and lighting (which included the time of day, due to the use of windows).

In order to increase the efficiency of shooting, rather than spending as much time on it as we did the preliminary task (which took at least three days for the shooting of around 30 seconds worth of filming – ridiculous!), we planned out each of the individual shots with a top-down diagram of the room we were shooting in and drew out where the camera would be shooting from and where – when it came to shooting the opening, it only took a couple of days to shoot the vast majority of it, as we were able to refer to the diagrams when needed. This shows that throughout the filming, we learnt to plan out things in order to maximise the efficiency of the filming process, which left us more time for the editing process and increased the final quality of the opening.

In the preliminary task, we also learn about match on action, the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot, with the latter of which not being used in the film opening due to it’s content not requiring it – however, the 180 degree rule was used throughout, as the camera angles generally keep shooting the back or the left of the room. It was, however, broken at a couple of points – for example, when shooting from the perspective of the man in the chair, or when the camera is positioned outside of the room, both times breaking the rule in order to clearly show a different perspective being used, as well as further the relation of the audience to the killer (taking his perspective from inside the room to outside of it). Match on action was also used for this final section, as well as the actual murder of the guy in the chair.