Wednesday 4 April 2012

Eval Q7 Learnt since Prelim

Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Time to reflect ... and impress!
You're trying to highlight how limited and primitive your prelim is compared to your months-in-the-making film opening!
Make sure you embed the actual prelim!!!
As ever, there are plenty of past posts you could look at to help with this, eg: swede/prelim; treatments; evidencing/assessing aud feedback thru vids; online views of your work; Polldaddy; slasher franchise task; researching recent horror egs (+ presenting as vid); casting + creativity; genre vodcast (+ instructions); good eg of post on sample film opening; openings post style eg1/eg2/eg3/eg4; film opening presentations; slasher franchise task; screenplays + narrative; soundtracks; mise-en-scene task (+ decon); being creative with blog vids; IGS work screened at film fest; BoxOfficeMojo; quoting/referencing sources; [ALL egs FROM THIS BLOG ONLY; MANY MORE ON DBHORROR + BRITCINEMA BLOGS; UPDATED 8TH APRIL 2012]

2014 UPDATE: SIMPLE, FAST FRAMEWORK FOR A VIDEO RESPONSE
Use the guide below, which sets out how you could do this as a single-take (or with very basic, quick editing) video. If its not displaying properly in the browser, you can access it directly from Scribd here.


SAMPLE PAST STUDENT ANSWERS
Roam's: good detail ... but v little multimedia/illustration!
Becky's: same points as for Roam's, BUT a nice, quirky touch with the mock newspaper article. Generally you should avoid embedding Word docs except for tables and mocked-up reviews or mag/paper articles like this!
Rob's: done as a simple webcam vid. Good detail, and while the addition of stills or even clips would greatly improve this its important to note that Rob's not working off a full script; he has a list of points to make and isn't stilted in the way he makes them.
Chris': Recorded in F6 with other students pulling faces behind him ... BUT, Chris does edit in video/stills to illustrate many of his points.

Some aspects to consider/compare + contrast; this is neither an exhaustive nor prescriptive list - and you could easily combine several of these in one point/go, so use whatever headings you think best fit:
RESEARCH - how important is this to constructing a genre piece? There was NO research for prelim, but for opening you've looked at many general openings then genre examples, and broken down aspects such as titles, idents, SFX, mise-en-scene, locations, characters and how scenarios (eg sex, violence, false scare) have been handled in existing texts (ie shot types, framing, m-en-s, dialogue, music/sound, shot variation, editing pace, SFX etc)
PLANNING DOCS - s'boards, call sheets, treatment etc. Simple job for prelim: single sheet prepared in a few mins, but longer, bigger task and probably redrafting of these). Call sheets used on opening shoots?
TIME MANAGEMENT - Prelim a brief shoot & quick turnaround. Opening a bigger project needing planning for gathering cast, managing multiple shoots, dealing with weather changes, starting soon enough to enable reshoots...
PITCHING - None for prelim; 1st major step of opening.
CASTING - each other for prelim; wider cast for opening? Casting session? Did you provide cast with script, and/or rehearse before shooting? How complicated was casting; what were you after (gender, age, appearance, acting ability, availability for shooting, accent etc) and how difficult/big a job was it to cast? If you acted in your own opening, compare to experience of 'acting' in prelim.
PROPS, COSTUME, SET-DRESSING + GENERAL MISE-EN-SCENE - List what you added to mise-en-scene for prelim then for opening, presumably a vast difference in length of list! SFX (eg blood) is part of this. Briefly link to research.
LOCATION SCOUTING - Prelim simply school; outline complexity of getting right location/s.
SAMPLE SHOOTS - For prelim it was shoot & edit; for opening there's early test shoots to trial ideas and identify issues before full costume/SFX shoots.
ROUGH CUTS - Some prelims may need re-editing, but these weren't intended as r.cuts for aud feedback (note how many & hyperlink each).
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK + USING NEW/SOCIAL MEDIA TO GET THIS - The only feedback on prelims was whether they were shot & edited correctly or not; feedback for openings was critical, and directed changes including reshoots or even re-thinking of the idea/part of the narrative. Did you actively seek feedback from peers via YouTube, FB etc?
SOUND/EDITING; CREATING ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS - iMovie sound files and copyright music used in prelim? Original compositions for opening (Garageband)? Multiple music pieces, more fading up/down sound? Re-recording and over-dubbing any diegetic sound?
COMPANY IDENTS - Major task for opening, not done for prelim.
RANGE OF FX USED - Detail any used for prelim + any for opening (even a simple table will show up the difference), perhaps going into detail on how you also tweaked (and combined multiple?) one or more FX.
RANGE OF SHOTS USED - Consider the shot variation for just 1 scene from opening + compare to prelim: a simple list would suffice (eg MS boy1, MS boy2, CU knife, MCU boy1...)
HOLDING A SHOT STEADY [re-read the assessment criteria for the Production, and try to discuss most of these!] - Prelim was a quick shoot at a time when you were inexperienced with cameras and had to get it done quickly. You know from feedback how important a steady camera is; detail shaky shots you've taken out/reshot after feedback (or simply viewing back yourselves) and how your filming work changed over time in this regard.
INDIVIDUAL ROLES - Prelim was shot with little detailed discussion over who did what; were there clearer, more distinct roles for opening?
WORKING IN A GROUP - Narrative idea was simple for prelim; how much discussion and collaboration was involved in finalising the opening's narrative? Have you taken on tasks you didn't in the prelim group? Is there any aspect involved in the opening production that you haven't done to some extent?

CONCLUSION: Could be a bulleted list of what you've learnt, or a simple video message (still basically a list!) of what you've learned about film production. As this is the last Eval Q you should briefly state what overall lessons you've learned.

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