My Evaluation of My Group's Preliminary Task

Here is my evaluation of my Group’s Preliminary Task:

The Planning Process:

What planning did you do and why?

We all took roles in our preliminary task, for example, I took charge of lighting and Connie filmed the preliminary.

How well organised were you?

Truthfully, we were organised to an extent, for instance we had composed a shot list which Connie and myself worked on to follow and the script which Connie wrote, however, we did not plan beforehand the direction we were going to film from, so this is most likely the reason why 180 degree rule was broken.

How could you change next time?

Next time we could plan the stage directions better so that we know what angle to film from and the actors know their directions clearly. Also, we could compose a storyboard in order to follow from.

The Video Production:

The production itself could have been better as we were in a noisy environment which made it hard to set an atmosphere efficiently whilst filming. Also due to the errors we made, the production failed in some aspects of filming.

What did you do, does it work, do the edits (match on action) work well?

I think the match on action did work well seeing as it was our first task as a newly formed group, however, we did break match on action when George walked in without a suitcase and then had a suitcase when he sat down.

Have you stuck to the 180 deg rule?

We tried to stick to the 180 degree rule however we did not manage to as after we successfully use a shot reverse shot, we then filmed the scene from the opposite side, therefore breaking the 180 degree rule.

Are the shots & angles well framed (rule of 3rds)?

In some shots the object in which is important is cut out, for instance, the mug is out of view in part of the clip.
Does it look convincing as a conversation?

Yes it does, the actors maintained eye level contact and the shot reverse shot made the conversation even more convincing, plus we used an over the shoulder shot which added one of the characters point of view.

What would you change to improve it?
To improve in future, we should ensure we keep to the 180 degree rule and match on action, plus, the camera was very shakey at times therefore we would address this by using a tripod. Also, the framing could have been better as the vital objects were sometimes either out of view or not framed correctly. In future I would ensure I edit out the background noise if possible to help create the atmosphere we were missing for this task.

Overall -  how well have you completed the preliminary task?

In all, for a first group effort, I think we did as we planned and brought along props which included a fake gun, a briefcase and a mug. Also, we performed a shot reverse shot efficiently, so in all a good try.