Evaluation Q7

Evaluation Question 7- Looking back at your Preliminary Task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

What brief were you working to?
Our Preliminary Task involved us having to create a video showing an individual opening a door and walking into a room, then sitting down opposite another person who they share a brief conversation with. This short scene had to include four essential filming techniques which were: the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot, continuity and match on action. Using this skills helped us perform to the best of our ability when making our opening sequences because it enabled everyone to follow the simple rules to make our openings appear more effective and professional.

Filming our preliminary task:
When filming our preliminary task we had to ensure that we had no errors such as making sure the correct foot enters and leaves the room first when filmed from different angles to ensure that when the clips are edited together, the match on action will look more effective. Another factor we had to be careful of was when filming the clips to show the use of shot reverse shot. We had to ensure that filming was done over the correct opposite shoulder to their opponent to make sure that continuity wasn't broken.

Using the preliminary task to develop our film:
Practising following simple cinematography rules meant we were more confident in producing our own opening sequence and also during the editing stages. Our film includes a scene where two characters are present in the corridor but it was shown from two different camera angles, therefore we had to ensure that we followed the 180 degree rule which ensured the characters didn't look like they were running in both directions which would have broke continuity. However in certain points of our film we purposely broke continuity using jump cuts to help represent our post apocalyptic horror genres it created a sense of abnormality and curiosity for the audience. The use of match on action was continuous throughout the opening sequence of our film. An example of this is when Rudy awakens from his coma there is a close up shot of his face waking up which then follows onto a mid shot of him falling out of bed. We did this to show detail and to show the audience what their natural perspective would have focused on.

What improvements can you see?
The preliminary task played a huge role in boosting our confidence with filming by knowing how to use simple filming rules which we followed in our main task of creating a film opening. By following these rules we also gained basic knowledge and experience from using the camera and tripods which gave us the ability to be confident in using a wide variety of camera shots such as a birds eye view shot which we used in the corridor scene. The editing software we used when editing our preliminary task was Final Cut Pro which allowed us to gain skills due to the software being completely new to most of us. This therefore shows that there has been a huge improvement in the way we approach filming and editing as before the preliminary task we were scared of making a mistake or filming in the wrong way, where as when it came to filming and editing our opening sequence we were confident in the selection of shots used and the amount of effects were used without question.

Evaluation Q6

Evaluation Q5

Evaluation Question 5- How did you attract and address your target audience?

Do you think you have reached your target audience?
I think that our film managed to connect with our target audience of the age range 15 years old to 50 years old ideally, or beyond. Our audience questionnaire clearly shows from results that the majority of individuals who watched the film opening and gave feedback are between the ages 15 to 54. The gender aspect of our target audience, being for both male and female, has been addressed because there is an equal amount of each gender of contributors within our group which means its easily attracting everyone due to there being evidently no gender divide.

What did you include when planning your production that you thought would appeal to your audience?
Lots of research and planning went into ensuring our film opening looked as realistic and effective as possible. The main stereotype of a post apocalyptic horror is the aspect of zombies, therefore this meant we had to make sure our zombie was as professional as possible. The research into zombies including watching YouTube videos to see how make up was applied, which we then practised before we filmed the actual zombie scenes to ensure it looked appropriate. The movement of zombies had to be taken into consideration when we were planning our film. We noticed from existing films and series such as The Walking Dead that zombies have a slow floppy motion and so we practised different ways of moving to help find the most suited and effective zombie walk. Outfits were another aspect which we had to take into consideration such as the nurses outfit. We wanted our film to appear as realistic as possible to make the film be taken more seriously, therefore we had to find a nurses dress and hospital beds plus props such as drips that were as realistic as possible in order to make it easier for the audience to quickly identify the hospital room setting.

What has been successful in your production?
Our group wanted to ensure that our film clearly represented a post apocalyptic horror genre and therefore this gave us an aim to work towards and has been a clear success. From research we found that the type of shots and cinematography used was important for making a film a certain genre therefore we used a series of jump cuts in our film to create discontinuity which represent horror genres because of there lack of normality. Setting also played a role in ensuring our film was successful in fitting the intended genre type because we used hospital rooms which are often associated with horror genre because audiences find them to be uncomfortable places. The props present throughout the hospital scenes also created realism such as the use of fake blood to make the audience feel discomfort which is what an audience usually feels when watching a horror film. Finally our audience questionnaire feedback clearly showed that 100% of individuals asked agreed to the question 'Do you think we clearly represented the post apocalyptic horror genre?'. This therefore suggests that our main aim was a success with our target audience.

What was less successful in your production?
The lack of knowledge into why Rudy was in a coma in the opening sequence was clearly a problem noted by our audience. However our intentions were to not give too much away about our main character in the opening sequence because this then would allow the audience to be more intrigued by the sense of mystery which they would later find out further on in the film. So this less successful factor clearly attracted our audience because of their curiosity about how and why all the drama happened during the start of the film.

Evaluation Q4

Evaluation Q3

Evaluation Q1

Evaluation Q6

Evaluation Q6

Evaluation Q2

Evaluation Q2

Evaluation Q4

Evaluation Q4

Evaluation Q1

Evaluation Q5

Question 5

Evaluation Q7

Looking back at your Preliminary Task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

(1) What brief were you working to? The Preliminary Task involved filming and editing a brief video covering the four essential filming 

rules/techniques: match‐on‐action, the 180 degree rule, shot-reverses-shot and  continuity. These new skills were demonstrated in a short video clip of a conversation  between two people. This conversation involved the person opening the door and walking  into the room, walking into the room and sitting in the chair across from his partner and has  a brief conversation. This helped us perform our main task of filming and editing our final  opening two minutes of the film as we applied all the rules and techniques in this task. 

(2) Our Preliminary Task 

Before we started planning our own preliminary task, we watched examples of how the 4  essential techniques were edited into videos and films to help us understand the use of  them. We had to take caution when filming shots such as opening the door and walking into  the room, as we had to keep continuity and match on action accurate. To keep match on  action we had to ensure that the person walking into the room entered with the correct foot  first in each shot we used so it follows on to the next clip smoothly. We ensured our over the  shoulder shots were over the correct shoulders so it would not break continuity when  showing shot‐reverse‐shot, for example, we made sure to film our clips over the opposite  shoulders for both people. 

(3)  Using our preliminary exercise to develop our film After we had filmed our preliminary exercise i felt like i was more confident with using the  rules, so i felt confident in applying them in our final production when filming and editing,  such as the 180 degree rule which is important as breaking that breaks continuity of the film,  leading to confusion. One example in our film where we used this was the shot of our main  character exiting the room to be stopped by a zombie, then chased down the corridor by it.  If broken the rule at this point, then it would have looked like our character was running in  two different directions. 

In our film, we purposely broke continuity a couple of times as we believed it would have a  large impact on the audience in this specific genre. We believed it would put the audience  on edge and make them feel uneasy as it is not often used in films. to do this we used jump  cuts. 

However, we did make sure match on action was continuous throughout our film because it  gives it  more natural feeling for the audience as it is fluent, so it could give them a sense as  they are involved in the film. one example of this is when Rudy is waking up from the bed,  where we matched a close up shot and a mid shot.

(4)  What improvements can you see? I believe the preliminary exercise enabled us to practise and gain knowledge which we could  contribute to the filming of our final product. Whilst experimenting with these rules, we  could identify which rules we should pay most attention to whilst filming to ensure  continuity was not broken. It also gave us experience with Final Cut Pro and the camera. We  were able to learn the basics so when we put our film together, we could spend most of our  ime with effects and sounds, as we weren’t confused with the basics. We could also  experiment with a variety of shots, such as the worm eye view.  In the beginning, all of our group felt nervous about making mistakes whilst editing and  filming, and due to our main characters (Rudy and the zombie) wearing make up, we felt  pressured because if we had to re film due to mistakes, the makeup would have to be re  done to perfection. However, due to preliminary exercise giving us early knowledge, we  were successful in not doing so. In the end, i felt extremely confident with editing our film.

Evaluation Q3

Evaluation Q3