Jonah - Evaluation question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

[Two shot, white balanced slightly off] 

Since my Preliminary task i have progressed my learning mainly in post-production, editing, Foley effects and how to construct a character. I have furthered my understanding in camera work, the rule of thirds, and cross cutting.

[Focus pulling, blurring the mirror
image and restricting narrative]

• Camera work - The main aspect of camera work i have furthered my learning is in white balancing and how critical it is to maintain a believable, realistic, video. By learning how to spot when white balance is incorrect i have made sure that in my thriller white balance is good all the way through, although the first shot of the main female character in bed is very red which was done deliberately too add realism as the sun was shining through red curtains. In my thriller i used a camera technique called focus pulling and this added greatly to the whole clip as a depth of field could be created focusing on a character or object to created restricted narration.

[Here the masking
 of the alarm is visible]

•  Post production - During the post production of the Preliminary task i didn't learn, in depth, Final cut pro and Garageband as post production was very basic for that video. But through creating the Thriller opening i have learned a lot about both pieces of software, in depth. An example is the masking over the alarm clock and creating a filter to create a night shot. During the production of the Preliminary task minimal audio editing was required so my learning was not furthered. But during the editing process of the Thriller opening audio editing made up a huge proportion of time while editing because of the audio that was unusable and had to be replaced by many different Foley effects.  

• Construction of characters - Through creating this fully finished product i have learnt a lot about character construction and how to portray that on screen. For my preliminary task character construction wasn't necessary so i don't learn much about how to create a character, so for my Thriller opening character creation was a priority to progress in. By using effective and recognizable costumes, locations and camera angles i tried creating characters that could be identified with although this was hard considering i had no dialogue at all, to explain and get a feel for the characters.

• Continuity editing -  This is the foundations of any video product, without solid continuity a product such as my Thriller can completely fail and ruin what could have been a great story. I have learnt about continuity editing from the very beginning of the Preliminary all the way through to the filming of the Thriller. During the process of creating the Prelim task the emphasis was on 180(degree) rule and shot reverse shots, which are used religiously on sequences with two characters. But with my Thriller i didn't have two character in the shot at once meaning i couldn't apply a shot reverse shot and the 180(degree) rule didn't have much importance. 

• Shot 2 and 3 - These shots from my preliminary task are good examples of bad white balancing. At the time i couldn't notice if the white balance was good or not, but by learning about the function of white balance and where it needs to be applied i have learnt to white balance correctly for my Thriller.
• Shot 4 and 5 - These shots show the bad lighting technique i used which create glare and reflect harshly back into the camera. In these shots i only used one light which caused hard lighting, but i have learnt now to use 2-3 lights and use a Key light and a Fill light to create less harsh shadows and create different atmospheres by changing the intensity of the light. 

(http://foundationportfolio1272.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/lighting-exercise.html) - this links to my previous lighting exercise to show how i have learnt about different types of lighting.

• Shot 5, 6 and 9 - These shots are an example of bad framing. Having bad framing in a video really detracts from the story and doesn't help to enrich it either. In shot 9 the camera wasn't set properly on its tripod so the shot become slightly canted which was not planned and shows sloppy camera work which lowers the production quite of the video.    

• Shot 1 and 5 -  These are examples of focus pulling. From learning about focus pulling and how it can restrict narration and emphasis objects, using it really adds to the story and gives emphasis to parts of the story e.g. in Shot 1 the camera is unfocused to emphasis that this character has quite woken up and is still feeling tried and heavy eyed, getting the audience connect with this character.
• Shots 2 and 3 - These shots clearly display how i have learnt how to use the white balance function correctly and to use it in different lighting enviroments.
• Shots 6,8 and 9 - These shots display how i have progressed in the use of lighting, this time purposefully creating a high amount of contrast to hide part of the characters faces adding to the tension and suspense of the scene.