Preliminary task analysis

Our actual task was to film someone walking into room, film them having a conversation with another person and then filming them walking out the room. Three camera techniques were necessary here which I recently researched about.


Overall, I found this task very interesting to do as it was my first time properly filming/directing a scene. I was also eager to use the three different camera techniques I had recently learnt ( Shot reverse shot, the 180 degree rule and match on action).


To film the scene, I used a sony handicam on a tripod. I had never used a sony handicam before or a tripod so before I actually started filming, I experimented using the camera and tripod together correctly. Luckily It did not take me too long to get the hang of it! What was also new to me was holding the handle on the tripod correctly to pan across a room, showing the actor walking across. Luckily I had used iMovie before so I did not have to spend ages finding out how to edit the videos and put them together to make one overall scene.


To plan the overall scene I created a storyboard (which is shown in my preliminary task preparation post). Unfortunately there was not enough time for the actors to properly learn their lines that I had written on the storyboard and so they had to make them up on the spot. This was not efficient as I filmed them having the a conversation around 5 times before I was confident I got the right shots, and each time they could not remember exactly what they had said.


Leading on from my previous point, it was then difficult to edit my videos correctly, so that the dialogue flowed appropriately as if it were a normal conversation.


After I finished the editing and published my video on my blog, I turned to my peers and asked them for feedback on what I could improve the next time I filmed a scene and what was good. Here are some issues they raised:

• In the very first scene, the headroom could be considerably lower as there is a bit too much space on top of Nina's head. Perhaps I could also move closer to her to film as there was too much extra space around her. 
• Also, when I pan across the room to follow Nina I struggled to keep up with her as she was walking too fast. Next time I will have to tell her to walk much slower so that instead of slightly cutting her out of the frame, I can 'lead' her with the camera. 
• In my shot reverse shot, the angle at which i film the scene differs, for example when i switch to show Georgia talking to Nina, you can tell the angle is slightly different and I have filmed her too close. 
• In the scene it is quite difficult to hear the two actors having a conversation so next time I will tell them to either raise their voices slightly or I will have to use a microphone. I would do a sound check however the sony handicam is not attached to a computer so this would not be ideal. 
• Also,Nina is sat at an angle whilst Georgia is sat facing right ahead of her. This is is probably why my shot reverse shot does not look equal and at different angles,because nina is sitting not directly facing Georgia. 
• Another issue in my shot reverse shot is that there is too much space on the side of my actors, I could have made them more central in the frame instead of too much to the right or vice versa. 
• When I follow Nina as she looks at the clock, I tried doing a point of view shot however the shot of the clock is much too zoomed in and so the camera was very shaky as I filmed it. This was because I had no time, so next time I will attach the camera to a tripod and film the clock correctly. 
• Another issue with the clock was that although in the dialogue Nina says 'Oh it's lunch time' the clock clearly says its 3pm and so next time I will pay extra attention to detail and change the clock so that it says 1pm. 
• As aforementioned, when Nina stands up to leave the room, I lose her again as I pan across the room so I will have to ask her to slow down when walking. 
• To conclude on the issues I faced, one major problem that caused a majority of the issues listed here was the lack of time I had to correctly film the scene. Next time I will leave an adequate amount of time to successfully film a scene properly.

A few of the good things my peers informed me of were:

• My ability to accurately demonstrate match on action, when I edited the recordings and put them together I was extra careful to make sure they added up so that when Nina walked through the door I showed her from inside the room in the exact same spot she was in from when I filmed it outside.
• My idea to add in a point of view shot from Nina's perspective when looking at the clock. 
• The way I included an effective 'two shot' which helped to establish the relationship between the two actors in the scene.

Overall to conclude my analysis, I am fairly pleased with the outcome of the video, albeit I did make numerous mistakes, these were crucial in that I will next time, be able to avoid repeating the same mistakes and be able to produce an aesthetically pleasing piece of work (this experience will help me with recording my two minute film opening).