EVALUATION: Question 7

EVALUATION: Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progession from it to the full product?

Looking back at my prelim task and then my final title sequence, I can say that there is a significant amount of improvement. The prelim film was a trial when we did not know much about filming, camera work, research etc. In the prelim film, the sounds were messy; there were background sounds taking over the dialogue, the costumes were not planned, the editing was also not clear. Since then, my/our skills have improved dramatically.

PRE-PRODUCTION

One of the reasons why there is a huge difference between my prelim film and my final title sequence is that for our prelim we did not make a storyboard because we didn't think it was convenient when actually it is very important and contributes a lot to the final outcome. By storyboarding our final title sequence, we were able to be organised with the shots we were taking which made it look a lot neater and clearer. Because we did not use a storyboard for the prelim, the film resulted in a mess where the camera was shaking and it cut out some parts of the characters. Also, we had to decide on how and what type of shots to take right on the spot when we were filming.

Figure 1: The storyboard of our title sequence.

Another reason why our filming improved significantly is because we planned the location & props with a lot of thought whereas for our prelim film, we decided everything at the last minute which lead our film to result in a messy, disorganised film where nothing was planned. We filmed it inside our college in the canteen where there were other students talking and screaming which can be heard on the footage. For our final title sequence, we decided what location to film in as a group and we decided to film in Oxford street and in central London near Big Ben because they are busy areas and this would be great to show how the refugee has become a successful citizen in London.

Figure 2: The main character, the refugee(Chifa) walking in Oxford St in smart clothes showing how she's improved her life from the past.

Figure 3: The view of where we filmed the refugee begging from. The refugee was filmed sat on the floor under the bridge and the camera was on her left side which included her and the Big Ben in the camera screen.







 Within our film sequence we used the 180 degree rule which means that the camera should remain the same side of an imaginary line. The line is drawn perpendicular to the camera's viewpoint in the establishing shot of the scene. The rule enforces the continuity in the film. 

Figure 4: A diagram of the 180 degree rule.

An example is when the refugee and her little sister that she remembers for a moment is sitting next to her on the bench in the park and then fades away but the camera stays in the same angle to not confuse the audience of what's going on. 

Figure 5: The 180 degree shot of the refugee and her sister.

 During the production, we used things that we did not use for our prelim. We used after effects, filters, We've thought of the shots we'd take, how we would frame it and how we would edit it. For the flashbacks in the film we added an orange-brown filter to make it clear to the audience that they are flashbacks of the past. We used After Effects to make our own logo where we edited our own logo and embedded it into a short clip we chose on After Effects. We've done all our editing on Premiere Pro including the sounds and filters. For our prelim, we did not edit in the sounds at all, we just used the sound that was recorded on the footage which is why the dialogue wasn't very clear. Whereas, for the final sequence, we edited in foley sounds, ambient sounds and a soundtrack that played throughout the film. 

Figure 6: The software we used for editing.

When we did our prelim task, I was not confident with editing or filming because I didn't know how to use them much and didn't have experience in making a short film. However, as we started this project, I learned quicker and became confident in every part of it including filming, editing as well as planning. For filming, Chifa and I took a weekend to film in Oxford St and Central London. I filmed her while she was acting and this allowed me to be more confident with handling the camera and getting used to the angles. With editing, everyone in the group took turns. I specifically fixed the sounds, unclear shots, added flashback filter and wrote some title credits. For planning, we all had different things to work on such as location and costumes. I specifically planned the location, mise-en-scene and costumes. 

Figure 7: Process of editing

Figure 8: Process of filming

POST PRODUCTION

The "hidden work" such as decision making, collaborating, being independent and producing our own blogs came to us easily as we are all open minded and shared each others ideas and used it within our work. Although, we were doing this project as a group, we took control of our own blogs and produced it in our own individual style.

As a group, we think that our film was quite successful even though we had quite a few technical issues with the framing and aspect ratio. Through all the problems, we did finish and fixed everything on time. The filming, I think could have been better as some of the shots were very shaky. It was intentional to film it shaky during the flashbacks to give an impression that her past was shaky as so. However, it was not intentional in some other scenes which made it look less professional. We fixed the sound just before deadline as we had some difficulties but I think, we could have improved it by adding more foley sounds such as when at the end of the video, the main character puts her key on the drawer, there could have been a key sound effect and when she put away her boots, their could have been a thud sound. Overall, the sound went well together as we aimed it build up as the story continued and as it built up the audience's knowledge of the plot. 

As the outcome of both productions, I have learned to make my own short film in general. I have improved my camera skills, my editing and planning. I am much more confident and think that I would be able to make a better film now that I have learnt from all the issues. The prelim helped me learn the basic stuff such as using a camera and combining different shots together but the final sequence allowed me to try more things such as sound, logo and title credits.