Tuesday, 9 October 2012

Preliminary Task: Evaluation

To view my preliminary task again click here

What have you learned by doing this exercise?


After shooting I gained a greater appreciation for the use of storyboarding, having clear, direct storyboards allowed me to better visualize how I wanted my piece to turn out and also to organize the shoot quickly and efficiently. From the task I learned the importance of storyboards. 
Matching storyboards with the completed shots 


What skills have you developed?


I feel, after completing my tasks, I better developed skills at directing actors to achieve what I wanted the piece to look like. I wanted Will (the protagonist) to follow the storyboard very closely and was strict and precise with my directions. I have never done this before when filming and was pleased with how closely my preliminary resembled the vision I had of it in my mind.
Directing Will on the timings of the final shot

Receiving feedback


For feedback, I submitted my piece to a number of different social media websites. I posted the task to Vimeo and YouTube, and also Tweeted links to my task. To view the online feedback I received, click the website links.


The feedback I received praised and criticized different aspects of my piece, this was extremely useful and gives me more perspective for my Final opening sequence task. Points made by many of the comments were:

- The soundtrack was largely praised, "Music works well to create the mood" was posted by one YouTuber. Another stated that "it (soundtrack) matches the mood of the film." The overall consensus was that the use of music over the piece was a success. For the preliminary task, I enlisted the help of my friend Louis Fitton, a music student who composed the main theme specifically for my preliminary task. I will definitely work with Louis again to produce the soundtrack for my final opening sequence.

- One aspect of the soundtrack that was criticized was the dialogue between the two brothers from outside the room. One user wrote that "I recommend making the narrative louder, it is hard to make out properly over the music." In response I would say that I played with the volume of the brothers dialogue lots in post-production and in my opinion it is at the right volume to convey that the brothers are outside of the room and only parts of their conversation was audible to the protagonist. Perhaps though it still could be slightly louder, or alternatively the music slightly quieter to appease such criticisms, the balancing of the different sources of sound will be something I greatly consider in my final piece. 

Improvements to my Preliminary Task


Overall, I was extremely satisfied with the results of my preliminary task, however I do agree some improvements could be made. 

- Firstly, I'd like to gain a greater understanding of lighting. For my preliminary task I didn't pay huge amounts of intention to how the shots should be lit and made most corrections to lighting in post-production, while this is passable, before I shoot my final piece I'd like to research some techniques and equipment that could help better the lighting in my films.

- Secondly, I think had I used more foley to replace the external sound effects (cars passing from outside the window etc.) the piece would have sounded more professional. For my final piece I'll look at better balancing the sounds, the use of more foley would help this.

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