Reflection On ThePreliminary Task

Josh Pyne

What was the task

O 180 degree ruleO • Match on actionO • Shot reverse shotO • Conversation and walking into a room and sitting downO • Parallel editingO • Graphic matchO • Consideration of framing – range of shot typesO • Range of angles O • Consideration of lightingO • Tracking/panning – movementO • Consideration of mise en scene – costumes, gestures, expressions,

settingO • Enigma codes and action codes

The task was to produce a short film with the following technical criteria:

Planning

The task was planned very poorly, with little to virtually no script at all. Things like character names and motives were un-decided. The whole project was done on seconds notice (basically no notice at all), and no planning was contributed by any one.

Group ContributionAgain there was no effort put in by most of the members, also communication between the group was kept to a minimum (Surprised we know each others names…) Fortunately me and one other group member attempted to pull the task back together but with limited time, resources, inconsistent shots, no help from the others and inadequate contribution by more than half of the group we were (two of us) unable to finish the task to a high standard worthy of calling acceptable.

Development of creative ideas

At the start, end and throughout ideas where only contributed by less than fifty percent of the group meaning our group was extensively held back. The whole time communication was between me and another member, other members were usually busy on phones, or earphones in and listening to music not contributing and not even following instructions to a level of satisfaction. Ideas were not scripted or written down and to my amazement we actually had a plot… (Surprised we even got that far)

What went well on the shoot?

Nothing, that’s right nothing at all. With only me and another group member responding to the task effectively we were held back. This caused us to slow down the production speed to less than twenty percent I would say. Surprisingly we did manage to get some good shots and edit those into some pretty sequences but those were in short supply as more than half of the group did not respond to the task as adults more like children.

What went wrong?O Uncooperative group members, more

than half of the group was uncooperative.

O No script to follow, everything was done on spot if not done at all.

O Bad communication to what to film and ideas about the characters and motives.

O No contribution by more than half the group meant that the production speed was terrifically slow.

What have I learnt in terms of how you will run the shoots for your film

opening?O Create a sturdy script to follow to allow easy

navigation of scenes, characters, motives, ideas, and ideas.

O To choose better group members, or work independently.

O Split workload, everyone in the group is assigned tasks to keep busy with so the production speed is fast and efficient

O No or little messing around.

What did I learn about how thinking about editing can help when I am

actually shooting the footage O Planning editing in a script is very

effective also different shots of the same scene can help make variations to choose between when one shot doesn’t work out

O More shots is better than less.