Evaluation of Foundation Portfolio

I would say that between our preliminary task and our final task I have developed many skills in filming and editing. If you look at our preliminary task and the writing to go with it you'll see how many basic errors we made and didn't even have a complete plot. We were very conscious of these mistakes and so felt we had to start over. In total we made three preliminary tasks until we were happy, and then our final task. So we developed many skills through trial and error. These skills include those in filming and editing.

Instances of developments in our filming skills include simple things like actually getting characters in the shot and not crossing the 180 degree rule to more complex things like point of view shots using a plastic sheet over the lens in our opening scene to create a drunken, dreamlike sense. The research we did previous to our preliminary tasks gave us some confidence in camera angles and we can give reasons for every shot used in it, for example the close-up on her eye to show the solemn look on her face and for the audience to sympathise with her situation. Whereas we include a close-up of the painting Shaiane is doing in our first preliminary task, the painting is not important to the story at all and so therefore does not need the attention a close-up shot gives it. Other problems that were made when filming our preliminary task include lack of planning, meaning that the dialogue didn't flow and didn't have any direction. However, before our final preliminary task we wrote a script which meant that the whole thing flowed better. An important skill that we have picked up is to film much more material than we need in our sequence, so that we are free to play around with different shots in the editing stage. Our practise at handheld shooting in the POV shot of our final preliminary task meant that we felt more comfortable at doing so in our opening sequence which consists mainly of handheld shots. I think the use of POV in our opening task is very effective, from talking to people who have watched it they have said they really felt like they saw it from her eyes, as if they were her. This helps the audience to sympathise with the main character of the film. In our second preliminary task we noted that the shot/ reverse shot sequence didn't look right. This was because the angle at which we shot Tayler's dialogue was more shallow than that at which we shot Shaiane's. From this we learnt to consider these kind of details when shooting and therefore shot it correctly the next time, in our final preliminary. In terms of the actual equipment it was pretty easy to pick up the skills on how to use it.


In terms of editing, the skills needed for producing our opening scene were picked up via trial and error during our preliminary tasks. In our opening sequence there are clear evidence of theses skills. They include the basics of match on action, like when she drinks and throws up, to more advanced editing. For instance we reversed the clip of the main title so that it looked more dramatic because the words are revealed instead of wiped away. I don't know whether the shot of her looking and the vodka bottle and picking it up is too long. It's seven seconds and follows two short clips, two and four seconds. However we could justify it's length; she has stopped cleaning and is now taking time to reflect. We used transitions several times in our opening. This adds to the drunken, disorientated sense because it's as if everything blends together, which is what we want the audience to think she is experiencing. We chose for the titles to fade in and out to have this same effect. We had no practise at using titles, but I think our titles look relatively professional. This is because of their composition, the title 'Editor Lucy McCillan-Frost' in particular fits perfectly. The one I dislike the most is 'Megan Armstrong', this is because the text is not framed by anything; the shot moves around a lot causing the tap to be behind it. We didn't purposefully edit it so that it did so, but the music changes simultaneously with the change to the eye close-up. This is very effective and dramatic.

I don't think we realised the significane of research during our foundation portfolio. For example our research into our chosen film genre was not thorough enough, mainly because we didn't establish a specific genre early enough; thriller or horror? This was the case with the plot aswell; we had many different ideas and kept swapping back and forth and therefore we didn't give ourselves long enough to effieciently plan our actual opening sequence. The research into different camera angles really helped later on when we were producing our opening sequence; for example high angle shots made her look vulnerable.

Brief!

Our first task of the A2 Media Studies course is to decide which brief to run with. We had some difficulty choosing a brief and at first we were certain that doing a music video would be the funnest and easiest option. We were keen on producing it using montage editing; therefore creating a certain theme/emotion/message relating to the chosen music through a sequence of shots which don't neccasserily have any continuity. After some thought we decided that a music video would be too long for our liking and we moved on to doing an advert with the same style of montage editing. Our chosen insidery tasks are a web pop-up (skills picked up while creating the AS film poster will come in handy) and a sponsorship advert.

We're planning to do an Advertisement Package in the style of a classic music video; a montage of footage creating a certain theme/emotion/message, along with a TV programme sponsorship sequence and a web pop up.

More recently we have specified that our Advertisement Package's product will be an energy drink. We will use fast changing footage to represent the energy the drink provides. Common associations with energy drinks are their popularity with the younger demographic and athletic types so already we have an idea of our target audience.