Evaluation

The task was to shoot a 90 second continuity sequence in which a package of some kind changes hands. The finished video had to be 90 seconds in length so that we could then send it to the depict website and enter it into their competition. Sadly our film went well over the 90 seconds.

All our shots had to be taken on a tripod; we also had to include only one zoom, at least one eye line match, at least one match on action, a close up & at least one extreme close up. We weren’t allowed to use any dialogue in our film, apart from voice overs (and once in our video a character clearly mimes a swear word for a comedy effect).

To prepare for shooting the film we started brainstorming in a group. We were given five minutes to come up with some ideas. Liam came up with an idea about a lottery ticket, and we then developed this idea by drawing a story board. We included the time each of our shots would take, mise-en scene and location. We made sure that our storyboard met the requirements of the brief as we talked about which shots we would include and checked it when we finished our storyboards to make sure we had all the required shots.

I think the shoot went well. We didn’t come across any serious problems whilst shooting just breaking continuity occasionally and having to reshoot some shots. We also broke the 180 rule during the scene where we were filming a close up of the ticket floating into the pram. We changed several things from the storyboard including a scene with a dog with the ticket in its mouth we also didn’t include the shots where Liam is going down a hill in a shopping trolley. We didn’t include these shots because we didn’t have time. We ensured that the shots would link up & flow smoothly by re-shooting each shot at least 3 times; making sure Liam and I wore the same clothes during filming also thinking about the location we need to shoot from and the angles to shoot our match on actions. We worked well in a group but I think Jess and myself got to use the camera equipment more than Liam this was because most of the time he was acting, but when he wasn’t acting he got more access to the camera equipment.

Editing went well because we had already used Final Cut Pro on our first video we had produced so we knew how to use the software quite well. We did encounter a few continuity problems such as when the ticket was blowing in the wrong direction and when I was pushing the pram the wrong way, however it wasn’t a problem because we used Final Cut Pro to flip the shots so that the action appeared to be going the other way. We departed from our original idea by changing some scenes and making others shorter to try and fit the 90 seconds. We chose the soundtrack lucky by Kylie Minogue for the opening of our video because its about a lottery ticket and Liam hoping he’s been lucky I think it fits well. We also used the Benny hill theme tune because it went well with the fact that the video was a comedy. I found the Final Cut Pro software quite easy to use because I had used it before on my induction project. After editing I made the video into a MOV file and reduced its size also changing it to a flv file using Adobe Flash Video Encoder before I uploaded it to my blog. To burn my movie to DVD I used iDVD.

The opening shot of the video starts with a close up of Liam wiggling his bum as he dances to Kylie minogue. We used this to show that the video was going to be a comedy. We then have a medium shot showing Liam washing up in the kitchen, as he listens to the radio. As the music dies down you hear someone talking, we had a close up of the radio to show that the person talking was someone on the radio. We use a lot of medium shots of Liam in the kitchen, also we use one eyeline match to a point of view shot when you see him looking at the ticket. There is a match on action when you see him throw the ticket out of the window and then you see the ticket falling out of the window. We then go back to a medium close up of Liam in the kitchen and showing him stopping to listen to the radio he then realises from the announcement he has just heard he has won and he has just chucked the winning ticket out of the window!. As he starts running down the steps you hear a song that starts to be played its called benny hills theme tune and we chose this because it works very well with the chasing around of the lottery ticket, we also looped this song because it ended too early. You then see a medium shot of the ticket blowing away from the flats we reversed the shot by -100% because we shot it blowing in the wrong direction but this was soon fixed with the technological help of Final Cut Pro. In the next scene you see an medium shot of me walking down the street with a pram and then we cut to a close up of me pushing the pram and the ticket falling into it. There is then a high angle long shotof the pram you then see a long shot of me stopping to pick up the babys blanket and a close up of me as I shout at Liam. we use a long shot as you see Liam running round the corner away from me, we then cut to a close up of him realising he didn’t put the ticket in his pocket he has lost it yet again!. In the next scene we have a long shot of a man peeing on the ticket, and then we have a high angle medium shot of the ticket being peed on. We then cut to a close up of the ticket getting wet, we then cut back to a medium shot of the man. We then have a long shot of the man walking out of shot and Liam walking in the shot past the man, next is a medium shot of Liam picking up the wet ticket and a low angle close up of him. there is a medium shot when Liam walks into the post office and another when he is walking up to the cashier, then you will see a medium close up of him handing his ticket to the cashier. Next is a close up of him realising he hasn’t won the lottery only ten pounds. You then see a close up of the cashier’s reaction as she sees Liam walk run out of the post office. We used a medium shot and panned him running. Last you see a long shot of him as he runs out of the post office and jumps in mid air. We tried our best to match all the criteria that our video was asked to include but sadly we forgot to include the zoom also we didnt include the extreme close up.

Improvements made on 18/12/08