Audience Feedback Evaluation

Positive Feedback:

• I was able to hold a shot steady where appropriate
• I used a wide variety of shot distances and angles (This inclded Medium Shot, Close Up, Extreme Close Up, Point of View Shot, Group Shot, Low Angle Shot, High Angle Shot)
• My Camera movement was smooth
• There was good use of mise-en-scene i.e location and set
• My editing created a good sense of continuity
• The use of titles/captions created a professional edge

Constructive criticism:

If I could change certain aspects of my film production, I would make sure there was appropriate and consistent lighting throughout in order to maintain the quality of the video and to create more continuity.
       Also, I would use original dialogue instead of using the dialogue from the film to create originality. When recording my original dialougue, it is important to make sure that there is no background noise, so that the audio clip is clear and of a high quality.
       Lastly, I would use costumes to highlight the role/status of the characters which creates a sense of realism and creativity.

Challenges During the Post-Production Process

After filming a variety of different shots, I needed to put these shots together through the editing process. The programme available to do so was 'Final Cut Pro', a programme used to create and edit movies.

         The first challenge I encountered was learning the basics of 'Final Cut' in order for me to start my editing. To get me started, I viewed a tutorial video online, which explained as well as demonstrated the basic controls. After that I went on to explore myself.

I firstly had to import the files into 'Final Cut' and order them onto the timeline, and even this proved a bit tricky as it was easy to make small errors which could disable the files from being read by the programme. However after importing the files, ordering them were pretty easy.

         I major problem I was faced with was the lighting of various shots I had taken. Some of them were too dark, and it made the quality of the shot decrease and also made it hard to depict what was happening in the shot. To overcome this problem, I had to 'filter' the shots by changing the 'brightness' and 'contrast' in order to make it as visible as possible. Even though this meant that the quality of these few shots were much lower than some of the other shots which were shot in bright natural light, it was essential that these shots had to be altered to enable the audience to view it properly.

After overcoming this obstacle, I had to 'cut' and 'snip' the shots in order to make it the right length. I intended to make my shots at the beginning of the film short (around 2 seconds long) in order to create a quick pace, which builds tension and catches the audience at first glance. However I used longer shot lengths lasting around 20 seconds long, to present a dramatic monologue which was important to emphasis on the characters emotions.

Sooner or later I came across another obstacle: the sound. The sound we had originally recorded had a lot of background noise which made it sound unprofessional and a time not clear. I converted the 'Godfather scene' from 'Youtube' onto an 'mp3' file and decided to use the original voices from the film scene. I used the 'audio cut' tool, to snip the audio file where I wanted it and to place it with the video clip it complimented. I added the 'Godfather Soundtrack' as the background music which created an atmosphere throughout my piece. After this had been done, I managed to get the audio and video working simultaneously  and in harmony.

The final touches to my film was the title sequence and the 'transitions'. I added simple white text on a black background at the beginning of my piece to create a title sequence which was similar to the actual Godfather title sequence and gave it a professionally edge. I gave the 'toy actors' names such as 'Boobah Blue' to make it look like a real film.

         Overall I have learnt a lot about the post-production process, and how to use shot pace/timing as well as sound/soundtrack to create an atmosphere. Learning the basics of 'Final Cut' enables me to go on to make more movies at a higher quality than before, and learning he importance of planning, story boarding and script writing in order to make the post-production process easier.

Preliminary Project Evaluation

The Project Brief:


Produce a short film sequence based on a classic film (1-2 mins) using toys as actors.
The sequence must involve a character opening a door crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she exchanges dialogue.




The Scenario: 'The Godfather' scene one
Bonasera goes to the Godfather ('Don' Vito Corleone) the head of a New York 'Mafia' family, to ask him for a favour.


The Characters:


'Boobah' as The Godfather

'

'Rabbit' as Bonasera

The Set: 

Problems encountered?

When filming, the initial question was about making the character move, without having hands visible in the shot, in order to make speech seem more realistic. One answer was to use a puppet, which enabled movement to be free, however it meant that only medium shots could be taken of this character, but the positive aspects out weighed the limitations and we decided to use the Rabbit puppet. However, we still had the problem with the 'Boobah' (the blue cuddly toy) as it was rather plump and difficult to manoeuvre without and hands being shot. To overcome this issue, we decided to use string to tie around it's body, to enable it to move a little. The limitations with this were that the movement was very subtle, but this was effective as The Godfather doesn't usually make big movements, and it was enough movement to create the illusion of live speech. We could have made this even more effective if we had used clear string, rather than white string which is visible to the audience.

Other filming problems we encountered were lighting issues, as a few shots were taken in very poor lighting, some in adequate lighting, and some in very bright natural light which was ultimately the best type of light. This meant than when editing, some shots had to be brightened and contrasted in order for it to be clear. This made the quality of the shots decrease, but it meant that shots we had already taken could be used to build our story. It also meant that some of our shots had different ambiances, which created discontinuity in places.

Technical problems, made it difficult for me to place the soundtrack of The Godfather into the movie, which took away the overall atmosphere. 

What have I learnt about the Production Process?

Through this task, I have learnt about different shot types, such as High Angle shots, Low Angle shot, Reverse shot etc. and how to take these shots efficiently. I have learnt to appreciate different technical features and how hey work together to create an effective film such as the importance of consistant lighting, and the effect of background music. I have also learned the basic's of editing on 'Final Cut', and will later aim to develop my skill in the editing field.