2. Preliminary film evaluation

10. PRELIM. Khain, Khairna, Adriana, Rhianna, Danielle from 283goswell on Vimeo.


For my preliminary task, my group and I created a short film which incorporated skills we learned in lesson like the match cut and 180 degree rule. The embedded link above will lead to my preliminary film.

To make this short film our group had to plan what our story was about, create a storyboard and write a script. I think we were able to successfully create a story-line and script for this film that made sense and was clear to the audience. It shows that we could all work together and share our ideas to create one clear piece of work, using our communication skills. Generating and planning the ideas was the hardest part for me as I could not figure out what to do with the rope, though my group came up with a great idea of how to incorporate the rope into a sequence which I was happy with. However, one thing we could have done better was to plan our film by having a storyboard, as whilst filming we slightly changed parts around which made it more confusing during the editing process, though in the end I feel that we successfully overcame this issue.

Filming the actual footage was one of the easier parts in creating our films. Though, as mentioned above, we did change our plan slightly, it was quite easy to understand what we were now doing in terms of filming. This is where we had to go over particular parts more than once to get the perfect shots to create our match cuts and dialogue between the policeman and the female teenager. I enjoyed this part the most as I was able to get a full experience on how it is really like creating films for people to watch and enjoy, as well as getting to know the camera better. I felt that this is where I worked best. Ive learned that planning is a crucial part in creating a well structured film.

Editing was very interesting. That part required a lot of time to know how to edit a simple video clip and make it look and sound better. This is where we edited our shot reverse shots, over the shoulder shots and various other shots to effectively show the skills like the 180 degree rule. I also feel that this is where we got to understand how sound works in film as in parts, we needed to continue the sound in a shot for another to make the piece flow more. Nevertheless I still believe that there could be improvement in editing. Although I believe the sound in the film was good, the actually visual footage did not flow in places. For example, when the teenager bumped into the policeman, she moved from one place to another due to the editing. I feel that this made the piece slightly unprofessional. Though I can use this criticism and apply it to making my actual piece so that the same mistakes are not made.

Overall I think our group was very triumphant in creating this piece and overcoming the difficulties we had face. We effectively showed someone walking through a door and being tied up with match cuts as well as have a conversation using the 180 degree rule, over the shoulder shots and shot reverse shots.