Wednesday 31 October 2012

Practice Film Sequence

We were asked to film a sequence from a murder mystery style film. We filmed the minute leading up to the murder. This gave us the chance to look at some of the things we will have to consider in our coursework - establishing atmosphere and character, continuity editing etc. We made a lot of mistakes doing this and hopefully we can learn from them for the real coursework.




Evaluating of Murder Scenes
Planning and storyboarding
As a group we took a lot of time to plan the plot of our murder and then made sure we made a clear storyboard to follow. This was useful when it came to the actual filming of the scenes because we had a clear guide to steer us. When planning the story board we noted down the camera angles we were going to use and made a note of the locations we were going to use around school so we knew where to go.
However, due to the amount of time we had to film and the number of actors we had to use, we were unable to film all of the scenes we wanted too, leaving a few gaps in the story line meaning the full extent of our original story was not able to be fully understood.
Selecting shots and angles
When it came to decide on shots and angles we had a rough idea of what we wanted to do from the planning of our storyboard but we found that as we progressed we wanted to experiment with different angles to gain the best and most effective shot. We began setting our scene by lockers to show that our story was set with in a school and used a mid shot whilst panning the camera to the right bringing in to the frame our main character.
The next shot was filmed from within the locker our main character was looking in and this different kind of angle created an interesting perspective. Next we decided to film a flash back (See editing and mise-en-scene),using a long shot to create distance from the characters and the audience giving the impression that the undertakings going on within the story were secretive and suspect. These two shots were interesting and something that I would be interesting in including within future coursework to create the same effects.
We then filmed with the camera hand-held, filming our main characters running feet from the front and back and his face from below. These shots and angles would need work on in the future because the quality of the film rerecorded was poor due to the difficulty of trying to capture and run at the same time. The angle from his face beneath was interesting and unconventional but would too need more work on to improve the quality of what was recorded.
In another effective shot we managed to achieve on a small level the transition from a close up to a mid-shot, going from deep focus to shallow focus. The shot again would need work in the future but the idea of the shot gave a different perspective in stead of a standard close up to mid shot created through editing.
Editing decisions
We knew before we began editing that we had been unable to film all that we needed to make a story make complete sense. As a consequence one of the major problems came from when we ended up with a ‘double hug’. There need to be a filmed sequence in-between with possibly some dialogue to fill the gap instead of jumping from one hug, between the main character and the love interest, and the hug where she kills him. This meant the plot of the story was lost slightly.
The first set of clips that we filmed from the beginning locker scene to the last locker scene all fitted well together when it came to the editing. The only problem was that where we had filmed a flash back it would have been useful if we could have used some kind of effects to make this clear, instead of having the clips roll continuously.
There was also a slight lack of continuity when it came to putting some scenes together; this however came from the lack of time we had so we were unable to film so that they flowed properly. The editing of the footage filmed of the actual murder was also poor as it cut away to quickly and should have stayed on longer; effects were added here (fade away) to try and over come this but the editing needed to be more precise.
Use of mise-en-scene
The setting of out story had all been planned when making the storyboard so we knew where to go and we had made a good choice for were the murder should take place. However the setting for where he was running lacked continuity because he ran over the same stretch of land for the filming of the front and back of his feet. This meant that you did not fully appreciate what he was doing.
We could have also improved on our costume but we made do by bringing in simple hoodies to create the illusion of teenage gangs. We could have also improved our story by getting people who felt more confident when acting so the story seemed more realistic. We also did not really pay much attention to lighting that meant some of our scenes were quite dark and some detail was lost. In the future we would improve this and use 3 point lighting to gain better effect.
Another thing I would have liked to improve on it to film with a filter. This would have been particularly effective and would have meant the flash back fitted more. I would have used a dark filter to help emphasize the dark and secretive means of one gang member giving a knife to a new gang member.
Overall I was happy with what we were able to film and edit but in the future I now know we need to work faster to make sure our story flows and makes sense.

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