AS Prelim

Our clip, "Yes, Actually" involves a geeky boy trying to ask a popular girl to prom.

Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?

During the project, I worked with Josh Oranu-Noah, Prudence Carter-Phillips and Georgina

Harper-Dennett. We held a group meeting to assign each person an individual role to act, direct or shoot. As a group we also produced planning sheets such as storyboards and costume & prop lists, and decided how to manage the setting and camera position. Josh and Pru helped to direct and shoot the sequence, whilst mine and Georgina's role was to act. I was also responsible for creating the costume & prop list.

         Our group              Georgina and I acting

How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try to take into account?

To help plan our sequence, we created paperwork such as:

- storyboard: this enabled us to plan our shots and framing, and to check whether the sequence had narrative flow and made sense.

- script: outlined what the actors would say on set.

- top-down plan: helped us to visualise the shoot and plan around the 180° rule.

- costume & prop list: reminded the actors of what to wear and which props to bring to add to the characters' representation.

- shot list: detailed the order of our shots and was a useful reminder during editing.

To check the sequence and shoot would make sense we ran through the script, blocking the action and referring to the top-down plan for camera positioning. We also had to take into account various factors and continuity techniques stated in the brief, including master shots, match-on action and the 180° rule, and we incorporated these into our storyboard.

We drew up paperwork during planning, including a storyboard and script

As well as this, we were aware of representation, and used stereotypical clothing and props like the geeky boy's glasses & pens and the popular girl's phone to clearly convey the characters. This also helped to indicate the romcom genre which we were trying to portray.


What technology did you use to complete the task,and how did you use it?

Technology used while shooting:

Some of the equipment used, including the Canon camera and Sennheiser headphones

- Canon HF G30 camera
- Tripod
- Shotgun microphone
- Clapperboard
- Sennheiser HD201 Headphones

We used the tripod to keep our shots steady, using the handle to create smooth pans when filming. We kept our camera on manual settings and were aware of safety precautions & distractions such as background noise, which was picked up by the shotgun microphone. The mic also allowed us to pick up the diegetic sound of our shots much more effectively than the camera's mic. We used a clapperboard with shot & take numbers to identify which shots to use during editing.

Technology used while editing:

- Dual-monitor PCs
- Adobe Premiere Pro

Me and Josh during editing

In Premiere Pro, we renamed our rushes to help identify which shots we were going to use, before marking rough in & out points to edit with. We used linear editing techniques and referred to the storyboard to check the order of our shots, using the drag and drop tool to transfer them to the timeline. We then used the razor tool to precisely cut shots in order to achieve continuity. A good example is the match-on action between shots 5 and 6, where the character's hand seems fluid between both shots. The razor tool was also used to separate and cut down larger shots, such as the master shot. This helped us to achieve the shot/reverse shot outlined in the brief.

What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?

Our top down plan helped us to manage the setup of our shoot.

During planning, shooting and editing we had to take into account many factors to ensure the shoot worked – especially adhering to the brief. This was difficult, particularly as we had to shoot in the media block, so there were various distractions and issues with the location.

Planning:

- We had to shoot in the media block, so we drew up a top-down plan to incorporate continuity (such as the 180° rule) into our shoot, and worked out how to set up the classroom to aid this.

- Time constraints meant we had to clearly draw up the order in which we would shoot our sequence and also divide the workload between ourselves to combat this.

- Certain shots involved windows and reflective surfaces, which we had to be aware of so as not to film the reflection of the camera.

Shooting:

- We had to be aware of the camera's positioning so as to create continuity by shooting from different angles to create a smooth sequence whilst including a shot/reverse shot and varying shot types. We also took the 180° rule into account and didn't position the camera over an imaginary line dissecting the room.

- Due to small group numbers, at least one person had to operate the camera and so we couldn't realistically include more than a couple of characters.

- We only had 80 minutes to shoot all the necessary rushes, so had to be conscious of time when shooting.

Editing:

- We cut down shots precisely and divided the longer shots in order to incorporate continuity principles including match on action & shot/reverse shot.

- Time was again a limiting factor, and we could not spend large amounts of it cutting one shot to perfection.

- We had to be prepared to adjust the final sequence from that in our storyboard, as we realised some original shots did not look correct or didn't work.


How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently?

- I think that overall our sequence was successful. Despite some errors in narrative flow and editing, it followed the brief well through the action and inclusion of continuity principles such as match-on action and the 180° rule.

What worked well:

- Match on action was well-demonstrated throughout. Examples include opening the door between shots 1 and 2, Character A's hand movement between 5 and 6, and pulling in his chair between shots 6 and 7.

- Shots 3 and 8-10 use eyeline match well, to position the viewer in the characters' shoes.

- We used a shot/reverse shot for shots 7 and 8.

- We cut away to the mastershot in shots 6 and 12, to establish the space between both characters.

- We adhered to the 180° rule in the sequence, and the camera did not cross the line of vision.

- The storyline was plausible, and the action within it followed the brief. The characters also distinctly indicated the romcom genre. 

 In the final shot, the piece of paper from the previous shot disappeared.

Improvements:

-The match-on action between shots 4 and 5 didn't quite work, as the character's arm movements and positioning don't match exactly. Furthermore, the diegetic sound of the door closing in shot 4 wasn't continued in shot 5. The positioning should have been paid more attention, and we should have shot more takes.

-The camera shook slightly during shot 3. In hindsight we should have spotted this earlier and shot more takes.

-In the penultimate shot, Character A joyfully gets up with his poem in his hand, however in the next shot it vanishes. Again, more care should have been taken to fix this, and in hindsight we should have realised and shot more takes.


What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?

After this task, I have realised that the shoot needs to be well-organised and extensively planned - especially to stick to time constraints. Also, I've learnt about the many techniques to achieve continuity and how to achieve them. I will hopefully incorporate them in my future coursework.