Preliminary exercise

The preliminary exercise was to film and edit a 30-40 second video with the narrative having to include a person opening the door, entering ,sitting down and exchanging couple lines of dialogue between each other. There was no set theme or genre we had to follow allowing us to record what we wanted, however we had to follow certain style of editing which was match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180* rule.

 Watching the clip after editing it made me see what I could have done better starting with the more major problem of lighting. The style that I was trying to achieve was film-noir which uses low-key lighting creating mystery and making the clip feel more intense, but with the feedback I received it showed that there was too little light. It still had the aspect mysterious characters but there was not enough on a single character which didn't allow the audience to get attached, it was not ideal as it didn't give a purpose.

 Further, I failed the task of the 180* rule while doing the over the shoulder shots it was a major mistake as it was off slightly. Lastly, the sound volume was an issue while the two characters exchange speech, during the actual coursework to fix this was to get an attachable mic for better sound quality. The work has also good point to go along with the bad for example my editing skills have been crucial that made it a good clip. I stitched the clips in a way that it looks like it was recorded on multiple cameras or better known as continues editing. When the actor opens the door, the shot changes of the inside where the door finishes opening, having the editing done well creates a sort of flow and no jump cuts of sort. 

Lastly, from the feedback I got people enjoyed the aspect of a foreign language and certainly European(polish). It gives it a real art house clip feel meaning that i have given a lot of thought of using a foreign language for my actual coursework piece. The task was a visual presentation which showed me what I need to practise before recording the actual coursework such as the lighting, for example how to light a room which will add to the environment and feel of the genre it is being recorded in. I can also improve the placement of the camera as in 0:08 - 0.20 of the clip in the corner there was part of the staircase, it wasn't a major issue but the audience might have not been able to focus of the character himself due to the distraction. 

The areas that I will try to improve in the main coursework and evaluation is making sure not to break any rules such as the 180* rule that I used in the preliminary exercise. Practise more camera movements and revise how each shot can create a effect on a clip if recorded and done correctly. I would also have to improve how I use lighting so it adds to the clip and doesn't take away the feel of a noir. For the evaluation side, I have to improve in how much detail I write or specific points not only what happened but how it could be improved further and why.