Lessons learnt from foundation portfolio - Eve

Looking back at our foundation portfolio work we can see major ares that needed work and should of been edited in a slightly different way to appeal more to our target audience. Seeing the basic aspects of mise en scene, lighting, camera work, background/scenery, costume and acting we can easily see where these things could of been improved.

Our camer work throughout the whole thriller was basic and unimaginative, because of this it made the thriller less enticing for the audience and less 'scary'.

This first few shots of the thriller are very similar, not containing any feeling of originality or difference from other work from students in our year. 

By making the shots more interesting and inciting it will allow the audience to keep guessing about the storyline. For example, we could of asked surrounding residents if it was possible to video from their second floor windows or from their garages to enhance the feeling of her being followed.

Example of good good camera angles

Types of shots like this from 'King Ponce' are different and entertaining; they keep the pace of the short film going and vary the angles in which we see the actors.  

Seeing other peoples work from our year during our time in college, we managed to get an idea of how and what they had done. Many used a much broader variety of shots and angles to keep the audience interested and involved in the film.

 

    

During the last coursework project, we thought as a group that our lighting was not well thought through, because of the genre being 'thriller' we should of starting filming slightly later in the day when it was dusk to get a creepier and more scary atmosphere into the film. Whilst doing our short film for this piece of coursework, we will be looking much further into the lighting concept and how to create a certain mood throughout the film. By having a certain lighting theme throughout the short film I think this will be a large improvement on what we did last year during our coursework. 

Example of good lighting

This lighting in 'Smashed' is something we should aim for, the different angle and the bold lighting shows us what we have to focus on during this scene. This makes it so much more interesting and appealing to the audience when watching the film, it also allows us to focus on certain aspects of the scene and what the directors want us to see. The lighting in our own project could of been made a lot better by using torches and a more open planned area with more effective lighting showing the actors facial expressions and body language.

Example of poor lighting and camera angle

This is an example from our foundation portfolio showing how we could of improved on lighting, framing and camera shot. A high angle shot could of been used to show the vulnerability of the girl, lighting could of also been used to focus our attention on her body language and facial expression which at this time is meant to appear calm.

As a group, we decided at the end of our foundation portfolio project that we could of come up with a more inventive narrative/story line. Because of us being tied down by the genre of a thriller we decided to include a 'typical' following scene at the beginning, this made the film seem less appealing because of the lighting, the situation and setting all were too easy to produce. During our next coursework project for A2, we should concentrate on making the shots and scenes we produce a good quality and enjoyable for the audience. By doing so, we can appeal to our target audience and get good feedback.

Example of poor focusing

We also saw that during our foundation portfolio there were problems with the focus on our camera, because of the short time limit we did not have any spare time to rectify these problems however this made our film look poorly done and unfinished.
I think small things like this pulled our final mark down which later on is irritating because of the ideas and changes we have come up with since our final piece was handed in.

During the first coursework piece, foundation portfolio; we only used one piece of music that we made ourselves. It turned out well however, with more inputs like this I believe our next piece will be much for effective. By looking at various short films we have come across one that stood out because of the sound effects that have been used to create mood and feeling.

The link below is to a short film called Strangers, directed by Erez Tadmor & Guy Nattiv was a very influential film because of the unknown aspect to it. I thought the sound during this was really effective at building up tension and creating an intense atmosphere during from beginning to end. During our A2 work I think doing sound and using similar sound effects will make the piece much more interesting and memorable. 

Strangers - Youtube

For our next piece of coursework, we need to think of a better setting that will have more impact and seem more dramatic to the audience. During our mini narrative at the end of our foundation portfolio, we used a garage to set the scene of a man obsessing over an old teenage love. In my own opinion I think was the most successful part of our AS coursework piece, along with the soundtrack that we added it worked well. Even though the lighting wasn't perfect we managed to get it to be more effective during this scene by turning off the main lights and only using a torch, it made a more eerie atmosphere during the scene which I think we should try to include during our A2 piece of work. 


These are examples of our mini narrative, showing the different lighting and shots we decided to do.

From the work done last year, it has helped us see what needs to be done to achieve an effective, well made and entertaining coursework piece. The previous task helped us all work as a team and learn that everyone has to have an input during the producing and editing of the piece. Because of us all working as a group and everyone contributing towards the final product, we hope to come up with a much more successful end piece because of our various ideas working together. 
Adam and I are working again together this year and did so last year however, with other people in our group; we both feel that there was a lack of communication and organisation in the group which we hope to rectify this year by focusing on working as a team and making sure everything is planned so the whole group is clear on what we are doing at specific times.
Having already thought about what we will be trying to do for our A2 coursework, we have come up with some good ideas as a group and I think this will be helpful when we come round to looking further into it.  

The link below is to our foundation portfolio coursework, we got a grade C for this but we hope to attain a much higher grade in our next A2 piece. 
Foundation portfolio - final