Preliminary Task - Miss Miller

The other members in my film consist of, Myself, Layla Boudaboussa and Samara Stevenson. The reason we did this task was to understand how to use the equipment such as the camera and the tripod, but also to get used to using them so that when we come to do our opening sequence we already know the basics of how everything works and get started. During this task, we also got to experiment various different camera angles/shots to see which ones were more suitable and conventional to the thriller genre. The group and I were set a task which involved filming a 1 minute conversation sequence, the task required us to film various different camera shots/angles such as, an over the shoulder shot, a long shot, a mid shot, a close up and a panning shot. After we had filmed the conversation we had to quickly edit the shots and create a short scene which appealed to the audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPApZziDqMU

Mid shot - 0:02

Panning - 0:12

Over the shoulder - 0:27

Long shot - 0:34

The group and I had used many different camera shots, as the sequence begins the audience can see a mid shot taken place. They know this because once the characters are through the door only the waist upwards can be seen, indicating that this is a mid shot. As the sequence continues, the audience can see a panning shot due to the camera following the movements of the characters from the door to the table. Following through, the audience can then see the over the shoulder shot of the two characters. This is evident when the audience see the male character talking whilst the camera is positioned over the female characters shoulder and vice versa. Lastly, as the sequence carries on the last camera shot which the audience are able to see is a long shot as both the characters are walking out of the room. The audience can identify that this is a long shot because they can see both characters from head to toe while also seeing the background. I think that the group and I did particularly well by including all the camera shots needed while also making the preliminary task conventional, thus appealing to the audience. We did this by having to re take shots over and over again to perfect the scene, I also think that the positioning of the camera and tripod helped perfect the shots further. I think that the group and I also did particularly well on setting up the tripod and the camera, although the shots were not perfect, it was a good attempt at our first try, thus making us feel proud of what we had produced in terms of camera shots. On the other hand I think that the group and I could work on the panning shot a little more to further understand how to correctly use it. I think this because from the preliminary task the audience are only able to see a glimpse of a panning shot as the clip lastly less than 5 seconds, also I think that the panning shot didn't move to the left enough for the audience to realise it was a panning shot. Also, the group and I struggled on keeping the tripod stationary, this is evident as the long shot of Lily and I is slightly tilted, this may be because one of the legs were not fully extended or the object we had placed the tripod on in the first place wasn't slightly tilted or not supported properly. To avoid this happening when we film our opening sequence the group and I will attempt to position the camera further away and at a tighter angle, thus making the camera rotate more when following the characters. We will also check the tripods positioning before we start filming to ensure that the camera is not tilted. What I think could help us when filming our opening sequence is by exploring and incorporating more advanced camera angles to make it easier to get the audience hooked onto the sequence. I also think that having more camera movements will help further engage our audience as they want to have a mixture of camera shots and movements to keep the opening sequence realistic, overall not boring the audience by have only still camera shots. Watching and editing the footage back over has helped the group and I understand what mistakes we had made, this was evidential as we had filmed an hours worth of footage only to use 40+ seconds of it. Also when watching it back over, as I referred to before, the group and I didn't realise that the panning shot didn't look as effective and conventional as we thought, thus by watching the footage back we were able to realise what mistakes he had made which hopefully we learnt from.

To conclude, this task has helped me in preparing for filming the opening sequence as it has taught me to always look back at the footage we took to see if it was effective and conventional enough, also to explore into more advanced camera shots and movements. But most importantly this task has helped the group and I to get used to the equipment and camera thus making it easier for us to get started when we start shooting the opening sequence. In my opinion I think what the group and I should do the same is produce the same effective camera shots, such as the long shot which allowed the audience to see the characters and the background. What i thought was very successful with the long shot is that we performed it correctly will little flaws. However what I think the group and I should change or do differently next time is watch through the clips that we had shot. This is because it is vital to check back on the footage you have shot to check if it is good enough to use. I will try and make sure to do this by remembering to check the footage after every 10-15 minutes thus giving the group time to shoot many different angles and perfect them afterwards. We also learnt from this task how to use the basic functions of the camera and the tripod, this is vital because when we start to film it, it will help us as we will already be familiar with the equipment, allowing us to  get started with the filming straight away.