Preliminary task self evaluation

Evaluation 

For my preliminary task I was asked to make a short film with my group following a script titled "Feed the fish". We decided to take a humourous approach with our short film whilst still managing to show our ability and understanding of how different types of shots work together effectively. I believe that the first half of our film indicated that we were able to edit our shots to create match-on-action as shown when our main character walks into a bulding and up the stairs. However, as the film got to the middle there were a few clear jump cuts which effected the overall look of the film as well as indications that we didn't take lighting into consideration as the lighting would blatantly change between two shots. 

 In my opinion, the editing at the end of our video worked well. We filmed two characters spinning in seperate rooms and later duplicated and sped up these shots to show that this was meant to be character 1 changing into character 2.The editing was done poorly on purpose to show light hearted humour.

A strength I believe we showed in our short film was using the music at the beginning to establish to the audience the genre of our film.We used the opening tune to "Looney Tunes" when following the main character around a building to show that he isn't to be taken seriously as well as to help make the long journey a little more interesting. On the other hand this also didn't help our film as we found from our feedback that the energy of the music overhadowed the energy of the characters.

We could have also worked on planning our filming times better. For example, we filmed on two days and didn't realise that our costumes in the first and second half of the film were not the same.

My Film:
Doing the premilinary task has enabled me to learn a lot of new skills in filiming and editing in a quick time and I think I'll be able to apply this knowledge onto my actual film opening by learning from the errors I've made and using the feedback I was given by my class to ensure that I make the best opening sequence possible.

Harry Potter opening

Harry Potter Opening Sequence

     

I added a thunderclap to start off my opening sequence because it's an easy way to capture the audience's attention and is also parallel to the dark,eerie background. I would try to make this thunderclap seem to fit in a lot more appropriately as the jumps in between each effect is noticeable.

For the playground sequence I used a guitar loop as well as the sound effect of birds tweeting to show that the day starts out as any other, it also implies that the film takes place in Summer. As Dudley appears, I slowly faded out the guitars and replaced them by a hip - hop soundtrack playing in the background to show how him and his group is associated with the urban lifestyle. I added more storm/thunder sounds as the setting starts to darken to indicate that there's trouble near and reflect how the mood has suddenly changed. To compliment the fast pace and tension of the chase scene, I added guitar and drum loops which helped signify danger being near.

As the first Dementors start to appear I used more guitar and drum loops to help keep the audience engaged in the film as it transitions into the fight scene. I believe that me and my partner did a good job in timing the transition from one soundtrack to another as Dudley slides across the floor and the Dementor appears, this worked well because there wasn't any space in between the transition where there was no music meaning the audience would be more likely to be engaged at all times.

Overall, I can confidently say that me and my partner did a good job on the soundtrack for the whole sequence. It showed that we were aware of how different instruments and genres of music can change the pace, tension and atmosphere of a scene altogether as well as how small sound effects can have a large impact on the overall feel of the scene. If I could change anything about my sequence next time, I would ensure that I worked closer on getting the timing correct as even the slightest mistakes are very noticeable, I would also ensure that I didn't leave too many places in the sequence where there was no sound at all as this isn't very interesting to watch.