We three worked on the same practise sequence. We were given the opportunity to create a two minute film sequence leading up to a death / murder as preparation for the coursework. We all evaluated the scene separately.
Evaluation of Murder Scene
Planning and Storyboard
I found this bit of the task a bit hard, because I’m not all that great at drawing, so it is difficult to try and transfer my ideas onto the story board purely through description. Thankfully, the other members of my group got the gist of what I was talking about, and we were able to come up with an acceptable storyboard together. But, I don’t think that we spent enough time planning. We started the planning, but then when we were told that as soon as we were finished we could go out and film, I think the excitement almost overtook us and we were overly eager to get our hands on a camera, so the planning/storyboard idea went out the window. I also feel that as the filming aspect was new to us, and we had all these ideas in our heads of how we wanted our clip to turn out, that we underestimated how hard it is to film someone falling down the stairs and making it look realistic. We ended up just going to out to film and improvising, which caused us to have to do film the same scene over and over again, which gave us a lot more footage than we needed, and also made the editing process longer than it should have been. Next time, I’ll make sure that all the planning is done properly beforehand so I fully understand what I’m doing so I don’t waste any more time than necessary.
Location
For our location, we used the strip running from the Study Rooms past the Hall, and then the metal stairs leading onto the Balcony. I felt that the setting was completely relevant to our clip, as the argument was between school kids, and also set in a school, which made it look more realistic. I also think that because it was in a school setting, it looked less sinister and evil, and it highlighted the fact that the murder was an accident. The only problem that we had with our location was that it was right by the busiest area of the school for Sixth Formers to walk around, there were people passing constantly from the Common Room to the Study Rooms, and across to the Hall. Many times we had to stop filming to let some people pass or because someone had walked into the shot. I think that the planning aspect will help with this issue next time, if more planning goes into it then we won’t have to film the same thing as many times, which will save time.
Props
We didn’t end up using any props for our murder scene, the actors were already appropriately dressed as school kids, and we had no murder weapon so we didn’t really need any props. It was only afterwards when we were watching the scene back that we realised that we had accidentally left the case for the tripod and the storyboard on the edge of the screen. It wasn’t noticeable enough that it looked out of place, but we knew that it was there and we couldn’t use certain shots because you were able to see the stuff close up and it didn’t look realistic or professional. Next time I’ll make sure I check the whole scene and ensure that anything that isn’t supposed to be in the shot is moved out of the way.
Editing
The editing process took quite a long time to try and make our scenes flow together properly, the change of shot made it seem as though there were black spots in the clip, which made it look unprofessional and was extremely frustrating, so we had to cut out part of the scene to make it flow better.
Camera Angles
A major part of our whole scene involved running, so we used a mixture of mid shots, long shots and POV shots to show the audience the location, the expressions of the characters, and I think the POV shots were really effective in showing the audience what being in that situation would look like being in that situation. We also decided to zoom in on Rachel’s face after she had been murdered so you could see the blood around her head better.
Lighting
I think that the lighting worked quite well for us, the natural lighting made it look like just an average day, although I think that when we were filming from the top of the stairs where Georgina was standing, the sun was very bright, and it shone too brightly onto Rachel’s face so you couldn’t see her expression very well, which took away slightly from the scene as we zoomed in to see her face, but it ended up that you couldn’t see it very well.
The Group
I think we worked really well as a group; our ideas seemed to gel and adapt together, although I do feel we didn’t spend enough time on the storyboard. I think the quality of acting in our group was high as well, I’m not that keen on being on camera, but I felt the others did a great job. I do think that some of the dialogue sounded a bit forced because we didn’t have a script. We did all agree that maybe it would be better without a script because it would flow more naturally, but in hindsight, that actually made it harder. As there were no set words that were being said, in some of the scenes different words were said, or they were said in different orders, which then made it difficult when editing because we were trying to make it look as realistic as possible, so we had to cut out bits of scenes and merge together other ones because we couldn’t use the whole thing otherwise it wouldn’t have sounded or looked right. I think the next time we film anything we should definitely have a script, to cut down on the amount of editing, and to make the whole scene look and sound more professional. Use of the Tripod
I was the camera woman, so I found the tripod very handy at steadying the camera, which I feel gave it quite a polished and professional look as the shots seemed quite smooth, as opposed to the times where it was easier to hold the camera in my hand, but that made it harder to film, and my hand was a lot more jerkier than when we used the tripod.
We used our storyboard to organise the sequence, number of actors and camera angles as a guide line into making our film. However, it did prove hard to stick by, due to difficult positioning of the camera which meant our storyboard was not a reliable source to count on. Many of the scenes on which the camera angle was determined that we had drawn up on our storyboard we altered during filming due to complications. As a result it did mean that our film clip wasn’t as effective as camera positioning was problematic. This made our film jerky and made the clip uncomfortable to watch and deliver an unclean finish.
Acting
The majority of our acting was plausible enough to convey to the audience what our genre was about and come across more believable. However, Georgina, who was casted as the girl who accidently pushes Rachel could perhaps next time exaggerate and emphasize that her actions may have killed someone. An initial reaction would be hysterical so the acting would need touching up. In addition, Rebecca (myself) who played an aimless pedestrian walking in on the murder scene should have considered more energy due to the specific scenario we are involved in.
Overall, our efforts should have been more pronounced and dramatized to really create a realistic effect on the viewers. This is something we would really focus on when filming our definitive piece.
Selecting Shots and angles
Our film clip commences with a very short establishing shot of the narrow outdoor corridor. This sets the scene for the audience which gives small hints of what’s going on. This is effective as the audience won’t feel ‘lost’ when the actors enter the scene. Once the actors had entered the scene, it was a two-shot, this was effective as the two actors were fighting and clearly did not want to be in the same shot. In addition, we made the running scene a P.O.V shot. The point of view shot was effective as the audience really felt involved in the running scene whilst Georgina tried to catch the victim (Rachel).
When the victim is unconscious or perhaps dead and lying on the ground this is shot as a high angle shot. This is effective as it give the audience a sense of the height the victim has just been pushed from which make one sympathize with the victim and immediately establish who they portray as the villain.
A final effective shot used is one of our final shots where we used an extreme close-up on the victims face. This reveals her state and facial expressions.
I think our choice of shots and angles were successfully selected and I would use similar techniques in my final piece.
Editing decisions
When playing back my film clip I noticed our transitions to each of our scenes was poorly edited. The scenes would freeze and switch into a different scene carelessly. This made it look unprofessional and more importantly unfinished. Next time, I will take more care into editing by easing each transition more smoothly so the viewers are less aware that a camera is present. In addition, I would add in some blackouts to make the clip more effective with the use of abrupt and sharp cuts between scenes to add more mystery and therefore perceived more sinister to the audience.
Use of Mise-en-scene
I was reasonably pleased with our use of location and setting throughout our film clip. It coincided well with our story line - an adolescent issue has aroused between two friends and they argue this in a school setting. This is fortunate because we film on a school location.
As a group we didn’t prepare ourselves for any usage of props. We did use some ketchup as fake blood to show the damage left on the victim’s head from the fall which proved to be effective on camera. For this reason, for our actual coursework this is something I will develop on to make our video clip really stand out and have a clean, finished outcome. Although in the video we did not need many props, we needed props such as costumes and other extra actors. This will benefit in making our film clip as convincing and realistic as we can make it.
Artificial lighting wasn’t really necessary in our video. Although, because this is a murder scene, perhaps a dim and darker pallet of colours would be more appropriate into creating a more sinister atmosphere and environment.
Use of Sound
Throughout our film clip we used no non-diegetic sounds. This was lacking in our video because his would have made the film clip more effective by adding tension building, or dramatic music to build up towards that final outburst at the end when the fall has been made.
Ambient sound was in our video during the running and the arguing scenes. The use of real life back ground sounds does make the video appear more realistic. Diegetic sounds like the victims scream were included but this could have been emphasised with the help of sound effects.
Finally, music was a must in our video and would have really helped give our film clip a clean and professional finish. This is something I will definitely employ in my final version.
Overall, I feel as our first murder mystery piece we achieved a good outcome in particular areas such as our location and setting and the majority of our acting. However, in certain areas for our actual coursework I would like to excel on reaching that next level of perfecting our editing, acting and sound. Hopefully by this, I will achieve what I’m hoping to be a realistic and effective film clip that will be successfully portrayed through my target audience’s eyes.
Rebecca
Media Evaluation- short murder sequence
Planning and Storyboarding
I found this very difficult to do without knowing what camera shots were best to use. I found that our storyboard was not in much detail due to the fact that our group had made the decision to agree on most camera shots when we were at the location of filming. Although, making this decision made filming a bit of a challenge as we found ourselves having to film parts of our film more than once to decide what camera angles looked best. Next time I will make sure we make all of our decisions during planning (which will be a lot easier due to experience) and make sure our plans are in greater detail, so that when it comes to filming, it will not be as confusing and will make it easier when it comes to editing.
Location
Our location, at Joan of Arc School, was perfect for our storyline as the story was about two girls having an argument at school. Using the classroom to have the argument in looked very realistic due to the fact that we had other students in the room (extras) standing around chatting as normal. The thin alleyway between two classrooms was perfect for the chasing scene as there was a long distance to run and was a straight passage to the steps leading up to the roof, where my character falls. The passageway also looked dangerous, which is how must chasing scenes are supposed to look, due to it being very narrow. Having metal stairs leading up to the roof was very useful because we wanted the stairs to have a frightening feel, that would worry the audience, and these stairs made the characters look more vulnerable, which would not have the same effect if we used stairs in the common room that could be mistaken for stairs in a home.
Camera Work
At the beginning, to get the effect of the piece going back in time, we added in an extreme close up to my character’s face to get the effect that we were seeing what happened through her eyes. Although, this did not look very professional as the zoom in on the camera meant that we accidently zoomed in and then zoomed out and zoomed back in again, this made the picture shake and didn’t look professional. We used a POV shot in the chasing scene which looked very clever and worked really well it showed my character’s vulnerability and also how fast Georgina was chasing me. One camera shot that we should have used is the camera spinning or filming different part of the steps to show the fall and not just go to a blackout. Next time I will use a bigger variety of shots as we limited our film to having 3 different shots which didn’t make it extremely interesting.
Acting
The acting in our group could have been better. The group was more focused on whether the camera shots looked good and didn’t really concentrate on whether the acting was realistic, which it wasn’t. It was especially weak during the scene where my character fell as there was not much reaction from myself and I was more worried about whether I was actually going to fall! Some of the bits of running we did in the chasing scene was also not convincing due to the fact that we didn’t want to run too fast because the camera wouldn’t catch up with us. Next time, we will make sure our acting is more convincing, as now we know that the film will looks a lot better when it looks realistic.
Sound
The only sound that was in our film was speaking by the actors. Next time I would like to add in some background music to set the scene and to link the present time to the past when our film went back in time. Looking at other groups that used background sound I found their work more professional and in some cases scarier than ours which was the effect we were trying to go for.
Editing Decisions
We decided to split into two groups to half the editing, so my partner and I did the beginning and the other two did the end. There was a lot of editing to do as we had to cut a lot of the repeated shots to decide which ones looked better. Some of our transition weren’t smooth and looked unprofessional and there was no way of making this look better because they were slight movements of the camera when filming and had nothing to do with the gap between the clips in the editing program. Next time we will make sure that next time, when we film, we know exactly what we are going to do, and try to limit the amount of mistakes me make to make editing a lot easier!
Working in groups
My group worked very well together, everyone put in the same effort. Everyone was happy with their involvement in the production, and every decision was agreed by everyone. Although, I’m sure everyone in my group would agree that we made decisions quickly (especially with the storyboard) so next time we should talk more before we make decisions and make sure they work.
Rachel
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