For our first project, we were given the task of creating a
short sequence scene of a kidnapping situation. On the first day, we were
mainly getting to grips with how to use the camera and the tripod, so not a lot
of footage was captured that day. On this first day, we were trying out the
different angles which we could achieve with the tripod, such as a high angle
and a low angle. We spent a lot of time fiddling around with the tripod legs in
order to get the tripod angling upwards and downwards, so this left us with
less time for filming and so we produced a small amount of footage.
On the next day of filming, we had a much better idea of
what we were doing and how to use the equipment, so we decided to start from
scratch. We had a rough plan of about what we doing for around the first half
of the film, so we followed that, and then began to improvise the rest of it,
leaving us with a messy ending. We felt that we were limited to what we could do
with only two of us, as when the camera was on both of us, the camera had to
remain in the same position as there was nobody else to move it. For the
majority of shots, the camera was being handled by one person, whilst the other
one was performing. This caused these shots to appear wobbly and unsteady.
I feel like we could have been a bit more risky with what
shot types we used. We used shot types such as low angle, point of view and
over the shoulder, but each of these were just for a brief few seconds, so I
doubt it’s obvious that these small variety of shot types were used. Our excuse for a small range of shot types
used would probably be because we were limited to only two people, but even so,
a lot more shot types would have been achievable if we had attempted them.
The quality of our footage wasn't amazing, but it was
decent. The handheld shots were shaky, especially the scene where the cameraman
is running behind me whilst doing an over the shoulder shot; this scene also
has the cameraman clearly visible in the reflection of a window. The acting in
which we did was not brilliant either, probably because we not focusing on
delivering a perfect performance. We managed to gain over 90 seconds of footage,
which was a substantial amount to develop a reasonably lengthed sequence. However,
whilst filming, if it didn't appear obviously that we had messed up a scene , we didn’t do more, so when we entered
the editing process, we found ourselves with single shots for each scene. So if
we didn’t like a particular scene, we had to stick with it, because it was the
only one we had. We were lucky to not have come across any major mistakes, but
there were a few minor issues such as; seeing the cameraman’s reflection and
producing a poorly performed fighting scene.
This clearly wasn't the best sequence produced by someone of
our ability, but we did manage to learn what changes we need to make for when
we go out a film again. I think we would be able to develop a better sequence
if we had more than two people both operating the camera and performing. I also
believe we should make better use of the tripod, to enable us to produce
steadier shots and therefore better quality footage. We could also try and
experiment using a larger variety of shot types, which may include; a high
angle, long shot or extreme close up. We should also do multiple shots for each
scene, so when we enter the editing process, we can cherry-pick out the best
scenes. I think it is also essential that we plan out exactly what we are doing
before we begin filming, as with this sequence, it was very apparent that it
was improvised throughout.
