Ryan Davis AS Media Studies - Half-term Homework Assignment

1. Use of Camera

From watching our finished film, I can see we were able to hold a steady shot but at points, such as when we tilted the camera upward the shot shook a small amount. This was evident when we titled upward from the book on the ground, to Alex, sat on the floor behind it. We can evidently hold still shots steady but we need to improve on holding them steady when we are moving the camera around. Also the film shows that we can use a variety of shot types such as: OSS, POV, Close-Up and Mid-shot. We used the composition techniques successfully until the very penultimate shot where we broke the 180 degree rule.


2. Use of Editing

Our shots flowed appropriately well and we were happy with the results. But there is one shot where the camera jumps because we hadn't kept the camera in the same position on two different shots that were close together in our film, so playing it back it looked jumpy. We used simple editing transitions to piece our shots together. This was just a simple cut and no others were used.

3. Selection of Content

We used appropriate make-up on my hand which was meant to be ghostly and almost dead. It looked great and the results were what we had hoped for. We used the book as well and tried to keep it close to the original film by using scissors to make it look battered and old. The location was simple and so we chose Josh's house. Also we could use the house really well to make the film flow because of the locations of the stairs and the windows in Josh's house. We did choose appropriate actors in our film.


4. Self-assessment

I wore make-up on my hand and featured as the ghost in the film. I was in a few shots, one behind the window, another breathing down the camera from my point of view and appearing at the end through the banister. I also helped organize the camera position and helped edit the film. We could have improved the way we used sound in the film. In our final piece we will do somethings differently; make sure we follow composition techniques at all times and don't let the 180 degree rule be broken. Also we need to make sure the shots flow almost perfectly and not let any of the shots jump during the transitions. We could also use more transitions and get more close ups in the film.