Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression

from it to the full product?

Transcript

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Resident DJ Over music

Good evening and welcome, I’m xxxxx and you’re listening to radio Beacon. Yesterday’s education discussion based on the world of media was quite inspiring and this evening we have Miss Candice Russell, from the Beacon School in Surrey here, to discuss what she has learnt from her preliminary task to her full product. Welcome Candice.

Candice Hello and thank you inviting me into your studio

Resident DJ Let’s commence with what was your preliminary task?

Candice My preliminary task was a continuity exercise to demonstrate my understanding of match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. I filmed a character walking through a door and across a room, then sitting down and conversing with another character.

Resident DJ What was your full product?

Candice I produced a two minute introduction for a social realism film, titled ‘Limbo’ in which I had to take into consideration not only the technical elements, but research, planning and development before I could actually commence filming my piece. The introduction is based around the topical theme of transgender.

Resident DJ What considerations did you take into account when you were filming your full product?

Candice Camera shot sizes, their angles, composition, movement and white balancing.

Resident DJ How were the camera shot sizes and angles different from your preliminary task and why?

Candice During the preliminary task, I only used long, mid and close up shots, because I only had a limited understanding. A lesson covering shot sizes and angles allowed me to comprehend all the different types I could consider for my main task and as a result I effectively tried to

include as many different shot sizes and angles as possible.

Resident DJ Can you explain why you did this?

Candice The representation behind technical shot sizes and their angle will allow an audience to decode not only the narrative, but the hidden message behind each one. For example, in my full product, the representation of the extreme close up shots; of my protagonist putting on makeup, convey the importance of his issues. Linking this to the bigger macro picture, depicts how an extreme close up shot can detach from the full picture but at the same time allow a glimpse into the window of Mark’s anguish and how he actually feels.

Resident DJ How did camera movement improve from your preliminary task?

Candice My preliminary task was a continuity task, with no need for any other movements. It was only when I had completed and evaluated a comparative camera operations task that I really understood how effective movement could be achieved. The exercise I did, taught me about fluid motion, lead room, nose room, head room and anticipatory framing. All these factors help to create a representation either with a hand held camera or with a camera mounted on a tripod.

Resident DJ How did this create representation in your introduction?

Candice Hand held camera movements give an on edge feel and realism to my characters action, when he is placing his secret box beneath the bed. At a macro level, hand held camera movements’ show the viewer that Mark feels uncomfortable in his own skin. Slow pan tripod mounted camera movements given to the long shots of my character walking past the retail shops; convey his loneliness, isolation and the hidden fear of his sexual identity being discovered.

Resident DJ How about composition? How did this skill develop?

Candice During the preliminary task I did not take into consideration any composition and surrounding aesthetics, as I did not feel they were really important, but after completing a camera composition exercise along with a self evaluation, allowed me to establish various composition elements.

Resident DJ What type of composition elements?

Candice There were a lot of composition elements to take into consideration, in the use of a frame such as -is there negative or positive space, is it

in the foreground, mid ground or background. The depth of the frame is important, because elements such as line, shape, pattern, texture and rhythm all need to be analysed. Furthermore, lighting and colour need to be addressed and does this all set the required mood and tone to the frame.

Resident DJ To what extent did you implement these techniques?

Candice The compositions of my frames were carefully positioned to highlight aspects of form, shape, colour, texture and dynamic diagonals within the mise-en-scene. By using simple and existing surroundings, the genre is instantly recognisable to the viewer.

Resident DJ White balance was another technique you mentioned earlier, please explain what this is and how did you use it in your film?

Candice White balance is a camera mode and process that removes unrealistic colour casts to ensure what is perceived as white will be produced on the film as white. An exercise I completed at school allowed me to evaluate the differences between automatic, tungsten, daylight and custom white balancing from both interior and exterior factors. I chose to implement a custom white balance for the interior shots and a daylight white balance for the exterior shots. These white balance options gave my product the impact of realism with naturalistic tones. If I had chosen different settings, then the overall impact would have seemed quite artificial.

Resident DJ It sounds you have progressed and learnt many technical camera skills, but what about any development skills?

Candice Before shooting my preliminary task, I only produced a one drafted script and storyboard that were very basic. Before filming my full product, I had created a blueprint storyboard along with a blueprint frame and analysis. I evaluated their effectiveness after a critical feedback session with Mr Becker my media tutor. This then encouraged me to rethink some of my narrative and as a result I produced my second drafted storyboard and script. To help me understand my audience I produced an online qualitative audience questionnaire based around this script. Their feedback along with my tutor’s encouraged me to produce my final storyboard and detailed script to include elements of diegetic and non diegetic sound.

Resident DJ Did research help you any way to progress?

Candice Yes, my preliminary task was a directional task with no need to research any elements, but on the other hand my full product, needed careful research into films from the professional domain to

look at the technical micro choices made by the director and how these relate to their macro concerns to link to the themes, issues and representations being explored. The use of technical codes, within realist texts, function in two ways to communicate cultural meaning and emotional situations and I wanted to achieve the same effect in my final product. Furthermore, I also had to take into consideration the preferences of my target audience from a quantitative questionnaire, I had launched on facebook.

Resident DJ What type of planning did you conduct along the way and why did you do this?

Candice There was no in depth planning for my preliminary task, but before I could commence filming my full product I had to seek location permission, have a contingency plan, complete a location recce, produce hair, makeup, costume and prop itemisations. All these individual decisions helped to create the final outcome to my production. For example, my protagonist did not have a red checked shirt, on the day of the shoot, so I compromised and he wore a yellow checked shirt instead. Without any itemisation he could have turned up wearing whatever he actually wanted to.

Resident DJ I expect editing is editing and both tasks were completed very much in the same way

Candice Well, actually no, I used imovie software to edit my preliminary task and adobe premiere prime software to edit my full product. Adobe premiere is a more complex editing suite that hosts a lot of different options than imovie. There were a lot of extra items to consider in my final product such as title placements, music and the construction of the final tile.

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Resident DJ Well Candice you have been very informative and shared a lot of details. All the crew here at radio Beacon, including myself and I am sure our listeners would like to wish you every success for the future.

Candice It has been a wonderful experience, thank you very much.

Resident DJ It has been a pleasure.

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