Year 11 Film Television and New Media Production Task 11.1 – Term 01 Mr. Andrews

Self-reflection and evaluation:

Please answer each question using complete sentences, including as much detail as possible.
 
1. Discuss your feelings about the production task: Please justify your responses:
• Are you satisfied with your trailer? (i.e. did it turn out as well as you hoped?)
I am satisfied with my trailer as it turned out well as I hoped. The story line was what I have imagined and there were no plot holes as I have imagined. Although the colour correction was different than what I originally imagined, it still worked and I am happy with the result. I wanted to create a cold feeling to match the story line therefore I managed to create that.

• Did the project require more/less time than you originally thought?
The project did require more time than I originally thought as I had to re film some shots that needed to change or redo it. Other than that, the filming went smoothly than I have imagined even though i was busy with other commitments. The editing took a bit of time as I had to add the voice over in which was my first time doing so. It took at least seventeen tries to make the voice over sound dramatic as possible and match the clip at the same time. Overall, the project did required a lot of time but since I already done the subject last year, I knew how time is limited. Therefore, I had to manage my time carefully and I was successful.

• Would like to change or improve any aspects of your final film (storyline, shots, editing etc.)?
Any aspect I would to improve on my final edit is the composition of the shots.  The area I would like to improve a lot is lighting as some of the shots in the trailer, the lighting could have done it better. I would like to change the way the lighting is shown on the frame to create a more mysterious feel to the character.

• If you could start the project again, what would you do differently?
 I start the project again, I would improve the lighting to give a more mysterious mood to my character. I would also change the colour correction in editing as I would like to play more with it if I had time to find the right colour tone to create more impact in the frame.





2. As this task focused on the an individual character and genre, describe:
• The specific narrative conventions, character type you included in the trailer?
Since I am doing crime and mystery genre, the narrative conventions I have included in the trailer are a character wearing a coat and hat, detectives, murders, secrets, revenge plot, mass killing case and news article about murder. The character type included in the trailer are detectives parents, villain who like to toy with the main character and games/puzzles to solve.

• How you used specific shot types to convey your story?
There are specific shots that were used to convey my story. On the first shot of the trailer which is my character playing a cassette to record herself talking. I have decided to use slight low shot to give the character power and she is the central character in the trailer. This will give her power in this shot. Another shot type is high shots where I used to create an inferior feel on the character where she is less powerful in this shot. Also I did eye level angle to show the equal power another character has with Claire. I also tighten the frame on a subject to emphasise a point from that subject.

• Whether the intended genre is depicted clearly or if this could be improved?
 My intended genre which crime and mystery, are depicted clearly in the trailer. I focused on the mise en scene for trailer to portray the genre. Costumes and props such as the hats, coat, case files and newspaper helped to establish the genre in the trailer. Also the murder plot and finding the criminal helped to establish the mystery genre of the trailer. Although, the genre could be improved as I should have established more to my main character's characterization as it was a big part of the trailer.


3. Reflecting upon your completed task, respond to the following points:
• How did other people respond to your rough-edit? Did you use their feedback to make changes to the film?
 The response I got from other people for my rough edit was that the beginning there was a lot of jumps, there were too much words on the sticky notes and newspapers so they were confused. Also, I was told that in the beginning, the camera was shaken in the newspaper scene and I should have the main character look at the newspaper in the table instead of the wall to establish her character. I then used their feedback to developed and make changes in the trailer.  I first reshoot the whole first scene by filming the main character looking at the files on the table instead on the wall. It looked much better and it established my character. Then I decreased the number of words in the sticky note to two words as I can for the audience to read it faster and not getting confuse. I then was told this effect on Final Cut Pro called Focus in which focuses only one aspect of the frame while the other are blurred. This resolved the newspaper issue. I then solved the camera problem by getting on the tripod so the camera is not shaken.

• Did you use the planning and analysis tools effectively? (ingredients list, storyboards, shot lists).
I have used the planning and analysis tools effectively to help me guide for the film. I have used the shot lists to help me guide through trailer and how the shot will look like in my head. As for the storyboard, I have to change two times to choose what shots I would like to draw so I know what the shots would look like. This helped me a lot especially in shots that are harder to film.  Also the planning tools helped me to narrow down and brainstorm my ideas. 

• Were there any problems or difficulties during filming and how did this affect your project. (Difficulties may include; shooting, technical, time-management, teamwork, absences or editing etc.);

There were not any major difficulties during filming because I have planned out what I want to film. Even though I had to reshoot some shots after getting feedback, I still managed to get my shots done. Editing was good too as I have not encountered major technological problems.

4. Identify one key design aspect and one key production aspect that you will chose to focus on for your next task and how you plan to make improvements? (For Design this could be, narrative, characters, storyboarding, shot list etc.  For production, this could be camera techniques, lighting, time-management, editing etc.)

For Design, I would like to improve on the shot list as I would like to put more details in the shot list as I can. It will be good for me to know what exactly I would like in the frame but also for other people especially in a group work. This will help them to know what type of shot and what is happening in the frame. For Production, I will focus on lighting as it is important for filming. It will achieve the mood that I intented at the beginning. Also another key aspect I would like to improve on is blogging as I need to be consistently updating the blog especially when there will be a group task. This would help the other members of the group to know what happen during and after production.