Evaluation – Question 7
- 7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I have analysed my preliminary thoughtfully and have realised how far I have come since then, how I have evolved and learnt more advanced ways of creating videos and editing in more creative and innovative ways.
For our preliminary video I will analyse the story, the preliminary video starts off and it just makes no sense, there is no clear narrative or story, no clear start or even a chance to recognise the genre. The video has no story or credits that show what it is or even what it is about. The only clue to the story is the ‘Your Fired’ part, which can only be known if you have ever seen ‘The Apprentice’ and even that is not clear.
I have realised and greatly improved on this section of my final media piece, as it illustrates a great structure, which is not common in most films. When the end is shown and it goes back and shows the start, this is much more innovative than the preliminary video and creates a more interesting piece of thriller film. Also before we filmed we planned all of the story and shots before we filmed, this was not done in the preliminary video and this is why it ended up looking so un-organised.
Our preliminary video was set in a class room, which is random and had no connection at all with the very indefinite narrative, the dialogue states that it was meant to replicate The Apprentice, but it was not in an office so it has a very bad setting and made no sense to locate the video in a classroom.
On my main video piece we have spent time researching and looking at locations in person to create the most realistic and authentic feel for the video. We have located the film in a dark passage near a bridge. This is a great place as many other movies use this to create a knowingly deliberate place where people get attacked. So it is a common but authentic location to create our media video in, where many audiences will recognise and feel the thrill coming on due to them anticipating what is going to happen.
The shots used in our preliminary video are very scarce and have no variety at all, with some of the shots being very awkward and shaking during video, whilst other shots look bad and not in place after each other. In one of the shots you can see the video camera in the windows or people in the background; this is a bad shot and has been corrected in my final media video where I have created and added lots of varieties of shots, through creative ways. For example the shots over the bridge under the sunset or the close ups of the eyes, or the shots through the fence hole show the creativity put into the final media product. These shots show off and create tension for the thriller genre inside my media video as it adds to the effect of the pressure towards the end of Recollection. The shots were also deliberately analysed to take out and stop any mistakes occurring like unwanted characters entered into the shots, as well as equipment and unwanted scenery. In our video you can see our reflections and our bags on the desk.
This is a very closely detailed and imaginative shot
The equipment used for my preliminary video consists of:
- 1 Flip Camera
- No props
This shows that no effort was used to create a better video and that no planning was done to create a structure and well pieced together video.
For my final media piece I have used plenty of equipment and props to create a much more authentic looking film for the audience to enjoy. What we did not use in our preliminary video was clearly noticed from the first shot taken, this was the tri-pod, we used this piece of equipment to create a much more still, clear and professional scene, we have enabled more advanced features on the camera like night vision and zooms to create a much better shot. The props used in our main media film have been created and chosen to make the movie feel as realistic as possible for the audience to enjoy. I have progressed since the preliminary stages so clearly that we even went on to create our own water for the puddle scene to create a great shot for our media video.
The editing was very simple for our preliminary video. It did not include any headings or signs of advanced transitions and special effects. In my main video film ‘Recollection’ I spent a whole lot of time trying to edit a great piece of film together. I implemented many types of more advanced techniques like flashbacks, rewinds, sound effects, fast forwards, slow motions, reverse, transitions, colour grading, headings and much more to create a more smooth and thrilling video for the viewers. All the time spent editing has paid off, by the end product being a much higher level piece of work than the previous preliminary video that we created at the start of the year. All of the editing techniques have been shown on my blog and it shows how a media video can be created into a much better piece of work by using clever editing mechanics, and arranging the scenes into different places to create my media video, instead of just one constant film.
For my media video sound played a role of creating the suspense and anticipation for the audience, as well as making the video more authentic by adding gun shots and camera rewind sounds to tell the audience what has happened. In the preliminary video there was no sign of this at all, as no sound was implemented into the video showing little to no sound at all in the preliminary video. For the final piece I went as far as to editing the sounds to create distorted sounds and dialogue for a scene where the main character is half conscious.
The characters points of views change greatly between the preliminary and final piece. In the preliminary video the characters have no identity at all and are not known why they are there, even the character in the preliminary video that gets fired is carrying an iPad for some unknown, unconnected random reason.
The characters in my main video have a place and the audience have a vague perspective of who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist. This allows the audience to make a connection with my media video by knowing who they are going to be watching and following their journey into the rest of the movie.
Overall I think that I have greatly improved by using many techniques to create a much better media video than the first. There is a great and clear development and progression between the two media films (preliminary and final). It can be seen when you watch the two videos consecutively and a great amount of difference between every point and aspect can be seen. There is a huge improvement between the videos and I feel I have learnt a huge amount of techniques to help me create future videos and films for media.
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