Chariss Lee- Assignment

Use of Camera

In our film assessment, there were many different camera shots, we created a storyboard before filming to make things clear to use so we knew what we was doing and what camera angle and shot was needed for a particular scene. A Tripod was used, so when filming there was no camera shake, this was done very smooth, also there is a part in shot seven where the camera is tilted, this was also done very smooth because there was no jolt. Many different camera shots were used throughout the film such as, long shots, close-ups, extreme close-ups and mid-shots, I think each and every one of these shots shown emotion and was very understandable. At the start of our film the majority of shots are at a high angle looking down at her, this is to create the effect on the audience showing that the character is vulnerable at this point, when she starts to get up, the camera then becomes the same level as her until she is fully stood up and the camera is at matching eyeline. If I was to go back and do this film again I would change the lead and head room because at points in the film, for example shot one has a big lead and head room which is not needed, so I would make the lead/head room a lot smaller.

Use of editing

Before we started to edit, the week before, we jotted on a sheet how long each shot was going to be, so when editing we knew when to cut things out and crop the shot to fit the time. We followed our storyboard step by step, so when it came to editing we knew it was in order, so we knew what part we were doing and didn’t get confused. In our assessment we applied the rules of continuity editing, I think you can tell this by the way the film flows really well throughout. Our 180 degree line and 30 degree line I thought was also well thought about when filmed because the film flowed well with no jump shots. When editing we tried to make it look like the film we copied as much as we could, we found by adding many effects we could achieve this. We changed the brightness and contrast to make the room brighter and the outfit and tattoos darker so they stood out more. After adding many effects such as, brightness/contrast, shake (so the camera looks like its shaking) Movie Maker started to freeze and not let us use any more effects, this was disappointing because we would of like to use a little more to improve it, but I am happy with what the editing turned out like.

Selection of content

Before shooting our film, we set up a date to do a taster of what make-up and outfits where we’re going to use. We got our two actors to come into Bilborough College and did a make-up trial. For our main actor we used eyeliner to make her eyes stand out and on her arms we drew fake tattoos with marker pen. These were the only two things we used on her, for the make-up but I think it was very successful because it looked at lot like the film we was re-creating and stood out a tremendous amount throughout the film. With our second actor we used fake blood; we did the blood running down her face. We originally wanted the main actor Stevie to wear a white dress, but we thought because she had blonde hair it would look better for her to wear black also we got our other actor Saoirse to wear all black.

Before shooting our film we each did a reccee sheet. My chose was to do the first bit of filming where the three girls are chanting at a Church, 5 minutes down the road from where I live. Originally I thought it would be good to do the chanting in the arch of the church, but when visiting the place, I thought it would be a good shot if they were chanting under the tree with the church in the background, but when visiting college the week after we all decided not to add the chanting scene in our film. So we all agreed on using the faith room at Bilborough College for the whole film. I liked the look on this room in our film and I think the location fitted really well with what we wanted to achieve.  

Self Assessment

Unfortunately, I was not able to come and help with the shooting of the film but because of this I helped a huge amount with the editing, I had help by the other group members by them giving me ideas and thoughts on where I should cut and crop it and what effects to use but I added effects and cut/cropped the whole thing. However I was involved with everything else such as doing test shots and planning etc.

If I was to do the whole thing again I would work on getting every shot perfect and work on the head/lead room rule and I would like to add a few more effects and transitions to make the film a tad better.

Overall I am very happy with our team work and I worked really well with my group members, they did a great job in shooting the film also I am very happy with our chose of actors.