Our Groups Developement

From the preliminary exercise to our main piece of coursework, great steps were made in improving our skills and techniques.

Whereas in the first exercise, our use of camera shots was quite limited, our second piece included more sophistacted shots with more purpose to them. We were more confident and so experimented with a greater range of shots to achieve a more interesting piece of film for the audiences viewing. The match-on-action of the character walking through the door that we learnt from the first piece was carried through to the second film, as we knew it was a technique that would really boost the quality of our piece. We learnt which shots worked and which shots were too ambitious. Our camera work improved, as it was far steadier in the second piece and gave a more proffesional feel to the film.

The editing was also vastly improved. In the first piece we used several peel screens which looked quite amateur, so with our second piece we decided to only use neccessary editing that would keep the film flowing effectively. This was important in improving the continuity of our piece and keeping the verisimilitude of the film.

The music in the first film worked well, as it was upbeat and targeted the correct audience. So we brought this philosophy into our second piece, and chose a soundtrack which would fit the chosen genre and audience. The dialogue was also improved on, as we felt it had more purpose to it in the second piece. The use of the music as a sound bridge from one shot to the next also works well with the editing to sustain continuity.

Despite not paying much attention to mise-en-scene in our initial piece, we realized it was vital to address this in our second piece. Therefor much more thought and effort was put into the setting and props that we would include in our second film. This gives a far greater clarity to the narrative of the second piece (such as the basketball and graffiti), which would help to entice the audiences attention.

By Matt Harrop