Research Texts - Single Camera Techniques

     Whilst watching many different programs and films there are many subtle differences between them, some of the biggest difference occur when there are multiple or single cameras used in them. So I will be looking at certain aspects of single camera productions and the techniques used in them to determine how they can effect the outcome of a product.

Camera

     Single camera productions does exactly what is says on the tin as it is filmed using only one camera. The camera can be used in many creative ways such as trying to create a more intimate and realistic feel to it by trying to drag the audience into its world, a single camera production can do this better than a multiple camera production for many reason, one of them being the genre. Most multiple camera productions are reality shows like Big Brother or Britain's Got Talent and when you see a camera on set you are reminded that this isn't fictional and feel less drawn into this world however Single camera productions will sometimes shoot with more than one camera but only if there's a particularly difficult scene such as one with a stunt or one with heavy dialogue. Most directors actually prefer single camera productions as it gives them more control and they can set up each shot allowing them to shoot anywhere they like whereas in multi camera productions, such as East Enders, they are more limited due to logistical requirements. Single camera productions require you to shoot entire scenes and sections of scenes over and over again, making it very repetitive and expensive when shooting onto actual film as opposed to digitally however it does allow the actors to get in to character.

Lighting

     Lighting is far easier and better in single camera productions as there is less to worry about because you can light each shot differently creating a varied and unique look to each shot depending on what you're trying to show in the shot. In multi camera productions the lighting has to be adequate for each shot and can end up looking flat and unvaried even resulting in it looking fake like it has been filmed in a studio.

Sound

     Sound is a very important aspect in any video production, although the video itself is very important without decent dialogue it can make a well shot video appear very amateur especially if you're relying on in built microphones on cameras. When filming single camera productions it's very important to get a bit of overlay by starting slightly earlier than the scene and finishing filming a little later than the scene. This ensure that you capture the whole scene and don't leave anything out also it avoids jumpy and awkward starts. Sometimes in single camera productions they will utilize the use of 2 microphones to ensure they capture all the dialogue however sound effects like ambient noise can be added in post production if necessary. Sometimes in multi camera productions it can be easier to just mic the characters, interviewers or interviewees individually as a lot of multi camera productions allow for microphones to be seen such as when watching Match Of The Day you're able to see the microphones on everyone on camera whereas in a single camera production you may find that a central or directional microphone will be just as useful.

     With multiple takes being used in Single Camera Productions it also allows you to manipulate that dialogue and sound as the dialogue you're hearing might not be from the shot that you can see. By using cut away's and other footage obtained from multiple takes you can mask the dialogue used combining the best shots with the best dialogue obtained.

Coverage

     Coverage is the term used for the amount of footage obtained, it is important to get good coverage as when it comes to editing you will then have a wide selection of footage to choose form and if you have not obtained the right amount of coverage it could mean having to use a poor piece of footage because you have nothing else to use and are unable to re-shoot. If a director is using digital footage then it allows them to recorded everything even rehearsals to ensure they get the right amount of footage but due to the cost of film stock this is not an option if film stock is being used. The budgeting can depend on how much coverage you are able to get especially if filming with film stock, although no matter how small your budget you should always record as much as possible from different angles to keep your film interesting and watchable for your audience. when filming with a single cameras you should always start by obtaining a master shot which includes all the characters just so you can cut to that if necessary during post production, however when filming with multiple cameras lines and scenes will have to be memorized at a time for the long takes but with single camera productions you can check lines more frequently due to the breaks between changing the camera shot.

Editing

     No matter if the production is using multi cameras or just the one the post production phase can take a long time and often prove to be extremely tedious because of the sheer amount of footage obtained that will all have to be looked for in order to find the best take to use in the finished product. There is often a lot of wasted footage in multi camera productions but in the long run this can prove to be cheaper as it is much quicker so to speed things up for single camera productions multiple scenes will often be filmed at once when similar cast is needed or certain locations such as how Peter Jackson's The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit trilogy's were both filmed all at once and then edited over a period of three years in order to release a film each year, this was done because they film in New Zealand so it would have been easier and cheaper to film them all at once.

     If a multi camera production is shot live then it is possible to use a device called a vision mixer to edit it by switching between the cameras however this is not possible in single camera production and all edits must take place after the scene has been filmed. When I have filmed previous things it can take nearly up to a week to edit a simple 5 minute video so when editing a 90 minute video you can imagine how tedious it must be looking through all of that footage so a shot log can be very handy in that case as it has a detailed list of the shots captured and how well they turned out so be using this it can save you lots of time in the editing process.

Genres and Formats

     There are many genres used in single camera production however some are more dominant than others. The main ones are as follows....

Period

     Period dramas are often refereed to as costume dramas and are set in a specific era in the past and they are often romances however they can also be adventure texts. In order to recreate the atmosphere of that time period lots of props and costumes will be made for the production. A good example of this is the AMC series turn which takes place during the american revolutionary war so all the outfits, costumes and props would have been made accordingly.

Crime

     Crime dramas and thrillers focus on criminals and authority figures and will often make good use of low key lighting. There are many ways a crime show can be done, shows like Hawaii five-0 and The Good Guys are shot from the laws point of view where as something like Breaking Bad is shot from the criminals point of view. A very good show for Crime would be Mob City as the line between the law and the criminals is very blurred as more often than not you see the police get involved with criminal activities but the show is shot from both points of view respectively.

Horror

     Single camera productions are used for their ability to create realism and make them seem more personal and the Horror genre uses this to it's advantage by dragging the audience into the fears, jumps and scares of it all. A good example of this would be the show Penny Dreadful as it is set in Victorian England and uses many Gothic horror stories within it such as Frankenstein, Dorian Grey, Van Helsing and many others.

Comedy

     There are may different comedy shows and one of the big ones in the modern day is sitcoms, shows such as The Big Bang Theory and Friends would be classed as sitcoms as they use multi cameras and are filmed in front of a live studio audience, however other shows like Scrubs and Spaced are filmed using single camera. Comedies that are filmed with multiple cameras can feel more realistic as there reaction will be captured in the same take as opposed to single camera where the reaction would have had to be captured in another take.

Soap Opera

     Soap Operas are usaully filmed with multiple cameras due to the rate that the show needs to be produced however some Soap Operas have been filmed using a single camera such as the show Brookside. The main reason for this is because the show was filmed in actual locations so when filming in a house it doesn't allow for the maneuverability of more cameras. A good example would be the long running TV show Coronation street which is once again filmed with multiple cameras.

     Aside from feature films there are also multiple formats associated with single camera productions and they are as follows....

Series

     A series will feature around the same main characters each week with different plot lines in each episode but they will be no overarching plot line like in a serial, the characters may evolve slightly like get married and a new character will be introduced but the narrative will never be developed further than that. Shows will be commissioned for a certain amount of episodes such as how Sherlock was commissioned for 3 feature length episodes despite being pitched as several shorter feedback. A good example of a series is the hit British Comedy Only Fools and Horses as you see Del Boy and Rodney engage in new schemes to get rich each week but nothing more will come of it other than when new characters are introduced such as when Granddad died and Uncle Albert was introduced.

Serial

     Serial are slightly different to a series as they have the same main characters each week but an evolving plot line throughout. Soap Operas are a very specialist form of serial as instead of having main characters they use an ensemble cast with a mutli strand narrative and no ultimately closure to the narratives, good examples of Soap Operas would be East Enders, Coronation Street (Which has been running since 1960) and Emmerdale.

Single Drama

     A single drama will consist of one self contained story often told in a single one off episode however sometimes single drama's can span over three parts. It is the equivalent to a television movie and the minimum length is 5 minutes so the length can vary drastically. The single Dram Richard II Hollow Crown was nominated for an Oscar in 2013.

     So single camera productions can be very beneficial to make however there are disadvantages to it. The big problem with it is the money, it can be more lengthy and time consuming to film making it more expensive even more so if filmed using film stock but also filming with a single camera is a personal choice and sometimes not even involved in the project will agree with the decision. When filming action it can stop and start continuously which might be aggravating and looked stunted but also this leads to the problem of continuity errors happening more frequently. However the positives do far outweigh the negatives as It allows for more control over the production giving it more of a personal feeling to the film and potentially less film is wasted in the editing stages. You also have a variety of locations at your disposal because of the amount of equipment and when filming the amount of takes can result in interesting and exciting angles whilst allowing the actors to get into character but also shooting lots of it in clusters means the cast and crew are never just hanging around. Because less footage is wasted they can be produced on a much tighter budgeting and by lighting individual shots you are able to control it more to make shot look interesting, unique and appropriate but also it's still possible to create a master shot for each scene will getting individual shots.

     Of course multi camera productions can have benefits as well but how do they differ form a single camera production? Most TV shows and films are able to be filmed with one camera however live shows like Britain's got talent, Football matches and talk shows will be shot with multiple cameras and even some scenes in films will be filmed with multiple cameras but these will mainly be action sequences were you've only got one opportunity to capture it. Normally a multi camera production will use 4 cameras but this can vary, the main differences between multi and single cameras are that it's far quicker allowing for far less re shoots because more shots and footage is being obtained at once giving you a higher chance to edit the footage, also action sequences don't have to be stopped as there captured all at once allowing for far less continuity errors to happen. One of the best things about multi camera productions is that you can broadcast footage live using a mixing desk to jump between shots so you don't have to go through the editing process. However it has it's downside like locations become limited because not many places can fit that amount of cameras meaning things may often have to be filmed in studios which then causes a problem with lighting as you will have to distribute the lighting between each shot and it can look very flat and boring. Perhaps the biggest problem with multi camera productions is the lack of control in the cameras as you can't have a shot too wide other's you'll be able to see the other cameras and you can't have it too close either otherwise the other cameras will see you and finally moving shots can be difficult with multiple cameras so are often not used. At the end of the day it's down to a matter of opinion but most directors will chose single camera productions for the control and choice it offers however if you need to produce a daily TV show at a fast pace then multi camera would be far better.

The Journey of a Script Prezi

The Purpose Of Music Videos

     Music videos have been around for decades and people still love to watch them today but how have they evolved? They started from short video clips played to a jukebox, to live performances such as the Beatles and shows like top of the tops all the way to the first video Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen in 1975 and they only continued to grow from there. There's so many that all have their own unique intention from producers, musicians and directors which is why they are so unique however one main intention for music videos is promotion.

      Promotion for artist can really boost their popularity especially if a video is creative and goes viral however more often than not artists will show their name and a logo for the audience to remember them by and also they will promote an image for themselves. A good example is American Idiot by Green Day as it shows a name on their drum kit, a logo which is also used on the American Idiot album and they promote a punk rock image in their video with the way they act.

                            

     Directors can also promote themselves by creating music videos such as Spike Jonze did. Some of his earliest work was with music videos dating back to 1992. Directing music videos was a great opening into the music industry for him as it allowed him to be very creative and work with artist with similar interests such as Tenacious D with Wonderboy.

                     

     Producer's have strategies to market artists differently to others, This can depend on the genre of music for example a big artist like Katie Perry would probably be marketed as a role model for a younger audience whilst using the male gaze to attract attention. You can find music videos like this on TV channels like MTV Hits, 4 Music and online with websites like YouTube. An independent artist or band is more likely to show talent to promote the music itself rather than the artist, this is usually more common in heavier types of music with bands like Metallica, these can be found on YouTube or on channels like SBTV, Scuzz and Kerrang.

             

     Recently due to in-home technology artist will become self produced making their own videos and distributing them on YouTube and other social networking sites, some artist have found fame through this such as Justin Bieber however there are many smaller "Internet Famous" artists out there such as Madilyn Bailey and Jake Coco.the good things about being self produced is that you have complete artistic control, you can tailor it to fit and it's great because the distribution and exhibition is free however it does have it's down sides such as special fx won't really be possible and there's not as much money but the main problem is there's already too much content so it's saturated.

            

     Some artists even use their videos to make a statement and treat it like a visual piece of art that they want to be remembered for, artists like David Bowie and Bjork have been known to do this before. These types of music videos are often associated with certain conventions, usually this includes; low budgeting, experimental camera work and effects but also the video is usually always visual. Most of these videos will be seen on the TV later at night after 10 or 11 however like everything else they're view able on YouTube and other websites.

           

      There are many ways artists can earn money, some of the most common ways is through the radio or music videos as every time as song is played either on the radio or on the TV or online with a music video then in theory they should earn a payment in the form of royalties. The reason I say in theory is because of the vast amount of media outlets making it near impossible to track the consumption of a single music video. Estimates can be made depending how popular the track is or how well the single is selling, an assumption can then be made and the artist well be paid royalties based on it's popularity. Mainstream artists will usaully always top the charts because their songs are always being played on the radio leaving underground and more alternative musicians to rely on other media outlets so they can be heard and recognized, however this is difficult for un-established artists to go on the television and major radio stations because it's risky with the amount of money and viewers there are. They best way for new talent to make money in this competitive industry is by making use of exhibition and distribution wherever they can for free by using websites such as YouTube but also to be innovating so they stand out from the crowd and get noticed.

     Media outlets are sources that allow allow us to access media texts so when studying music videos we are referring to any media related source that would allow us to view or access a music video. The main media outlets are TV channels for music videos such as Scuzz, Kerrang and SBTV along with many others also with Radio stations like BBC 1 &2, Kiss and Heat. Also websites for music videos play a big part like YouTube, Daily Motion and Vimeo. Some channels such as Scuzz and Kerrang may also have a TV channel as well as a Radio Station. The advantages to the vast amount of media outlets is that there's more platforms to advertise and promote however that also means that you're always fighting for exposure making it difficult to be different and unique but also it's far easier for your product to be stolen.

     Synergy is a brilliant way to advertise and it first came about in the 1930's with Walt Disney when he granted other companies the rights to use Mickey Mouse in various products and advertisement and Disney continued to do this with many of their other products so another company can promote their product with the use of Mickey Mouse and by doing so they promote Disney. Bands often do this with merchandise especially young teen bands such as One Direction, they will make bedspreads and curtains with their faces on so they can promote the company selling them whilst promoting them self.

     This happens in music videos as well for example when Ed Sheeran recorded the song I See Fire for The Hobbit Desolation of Smaug they also recorded the music video at the same time using clips of the film in it as well making a good use of synergy by promoting the film using the artist and the promoting the artist using the film.

         

     The brilliant thing about synergistic marketing is that both parties benefit from at as they are using each other to promote there self (Or there product) and can sometimes make an advert or film trailer viral as it raises awareness through the use of the other party, drawing in both audiences from each party and introducing them t a new one.

      I think the reason music videos are so popular is because of their ability to be as creative or literal as they like allowing for endless possibilities to fit their style of music or even completely contradict it working as a double edge sword as it can either be completely different to the artists usaully stuff and work in their favor or annoy fans because it's different and doesn't quite work. Music videos have grown over the years and become a very unique film style within them self allowing for very experimental camera styles and techniques which you wouldn't be able to do normally with any other form of video.

Bibliography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Jonze 

Research Into My chosen Track

     My chosen track is Keep Your Head Up by Ben Howard and in the Official Music Video it is a grand total of 3 minutes 55 seconds long.

           

     In order to fully understand the song and to make a good music video it's important that I analysis the lyrics to understand the meaning of the song. After looking at the lyrics and annotating them I feel that the song is all about a relationship that didn't quite work out so he is trying to find himself and who he really is. There is a lot of metaphors in the song that suggest this so it paints a really clear picture in my head with all the possibilities you could do with that, furthermore the song even has some narrative to it. As the song progresses he slowly accepts what has happened and begins to move on with his life so he isn't so alone anymore however he still has feelings for this person but just wishes them all the best. Although the song has a very deep and somewhat sad meaning to it the song is very upbeat and happy as it blends really nicely with the acoustic guitar and all the other instruments giving a very warm feel to the song.

     Although I am not actually making this video for the artist it's still important to keep to that artists image as it is their song. To do this I need to look at Ben Howard's existing image through things such as clothes, locations, tones and narratives of his other videos so that I can accurately portrait this image in my own video. When it comes to clothing or costumes Ben Howard is often wearing very basic, modern everyday clothes which is usually just jeans and a t-shirt and sometimes a zipper hoodie so I don't necessarily have to worry about clothing to much. Most of his videos have a peaceful and relaxed tone to them with lots of shots out in the wilderness and in nature so it will be important to try and recreate this if possible.



     The basic idea for my music video is the singer will be travelling through different locations and as he travels in the narrative he also does in the performance. In the narrative aspect he will be looking for himself but eventually will find friends and it's at this point in the song that he becomes happy and spends more time with them. I went looking at the locations I wanted to shoot my music video and took pictures for a recce but luckily as they were all public places I did not need to get any location releases.

Recces

     Although I did not need any location releases I still needed performer releases for anyone that appeared in my film.

Releases

     Instead of doing a storyboard for this assignment I decided to do a timeline instead as I thought it would be easier and wouldn't be as time consuming.

Timeline

     The only budgeting I needed for this was £1.80 for a bag of chips but other than that everything was free however I still needed to complete a risk assessment of anything that could happen to the crew or equipment.

Budgeting

Risk Assessment

Styles, Conventions & Techniques of a Music Video

     There is a wide range of music videos out there and they are all very different and unique using their own styles and conventions to promote the music video and the band but what types of styles and conventions are there?

     Many music videos use multiple styles and conventions within them, one of the most common types is a in-concert or 'as live' footage used in a music video. As live footage does what it says, it shows the band or artist playing their instruments along to the song as if it were live a good example of this would be the music video for Metallica's cover of Whiskey In a Jar.

                             

     In the Metallica's music video for Whiskey in a Jar although it has the as live element to it there is also some sort of narrative to it which brings me onto the next type of music video. A narrative and interpretive music video is probably the most common convention for a music video and can be found in most. It tells a story for the audience to follow which can follow the lyrics, have a literal approach to them, contradict them, extended them with a interpretative approach or sometimes just ignore them completely. A good example for a music video with a narrative for the audience to follow would be Learn To Fly by the Foo Fighters as not only does it have a narrative that loosely follows the lyrics but it is also rather entertaining with guest stars from Jack Black and Kyle Gas.

                              

     The  next convention for music videos is surreal or absurd videos, the last video briefly touched on this with aspects such as the baby's head being that of a fully grown man and someone's head changing into a burger and also the flight attendant flying alongside the plane however surreal music videos are more surprising and unconventional with a narrative that can bear little relationship to the lyrics. An example of a surreal and absurd music video would be Low Hanging Fruit by Tenacious D, although it links closely with the lyrics it is still very surreal and you end up questioning what you're watching so it's still very absurd and random, even if you know what is going on you can't quite work out how or why.

           

     From the surreal to the emotional, impressionist music videos often try to capture the emotion of the song rather than the literal meaning of the lyrics themselves. During the 19th century there was an art movement called impressionism which the artist try to record how the world made them feel rather than how the world was so due to this impressionist music videos are often considered more artistic and will often use effects such as soft light, soft edges with flowing and intermingling colors. A good example of this would be Take That's Back For Good as the whole video is in black and white with lots of soft edges and rain giving it this sad romantic feel to the song.

           

     Intertextuality is something that is commonly used in music videos with styles such as Synergy, Allusion, Pastiche, Parody or even a Homage. Synergy can often be seen in soundtrack videos where there are references to the films or can even use footage from the film in the music video. One example of this is Ellie Goulding Beating Heart as it's the soundtrack for the new film out Divergent and this uses footage from the film itself.

         

     Some music videos can allude to another media text, event, person or even a historical or cultural reference. Ellie Goulding's video Beating Heart briefly touches upon this as it does allude to the narrative of the film somewhat using the tattoos and how they're very similar to those of the leading male character. A Pastiche can be very similar to a Parody however there are some slight differences, a pastiche is a light hearted imitation of another artists style where as a parody is simply making fun of it. There are many examples of each however a fantastic example of a parody is "Weird Al'" Yankovic's Smells Like Nirvana as the song is making fun of the band and Kurt Cobain as when Al asked Kurt to parody his video Kurt simply asked "Urmm... It's not going to be about food, is it?" To which Al responded with "No, it'll be about how no one can understand your lyrics" so it really is having fun with the band and artist.

                             

     Animation can be used in music videos and this can vary between stop motion animation or digital animation. Some videos have animation used at certain parts of the video others might use it all the way through, a good example of animation used in a music video would be Passion by Utada Hikaru, the video starts off with animation but eventually comes in to live action but we then see some animation used again towards the end.

          

     There are many different techniques that can be used in a music video one of which is lip syncing and miming. Performance videos will often require an artist to lip sync a track but it is also common in narrative-based videos.  A good example for a video that uses a lot of lip syncing would be Michael Buble - It's a Beautiful Day.

          

     Another technique often used in music videos is cutting to the beat, by doing this it helps establish a rhythm to the edits and can make a video fit the song more if it's correctly cut to the beat. A good example for this technique is Linkin Park Numb, the transitions fit extremely well with the beat making the song seem more effective.

          

     Post Production effects are used for many reasons, one of which being you may want to enchant and impress an audience into watching if the effects are good enough. You can also attract a different type of audience with visual effects depending how interesting, mesmerizing or complex the effects are. A good example of a music video using post production effects would be Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication as the entire video is using visual effects as if it were a video game.

                          

     Split screen is an interesting editing technique as multiple images of different events are shown on the screen at the same time. The old practice of projecting multiple images onto the screen and changing them frequently proved to give interesting results.  Split Screen is different to multi-imaging but is the modern equivalent as non-linear editing makes it easier to do. A good example of this technique used in a music video would be Mumford and Sons Whispers In The Dark as the video follows the journey of each band member to a live gig.

           

     Using a green or blue screen when recording can be helpful if you wish to remove the unwanted background (Chroma Key) and then place an image behind that so it will then become visible. A good example of chroma key would be Ed Sheeran Sing and it uses the chroma key effect several times, once when the puppet version of Ed Sheeran is in the china town part of town and again when all 3 of them are in the car near the end of the video.

           
     Camera movements can make a video more interesting to watch, by using pans, tracking shots, tilts and crabs it can create flow and excitement for the audience, a good example of this would be Smash Mouth All Star. There's a lot of movement in this video and it works really well for both the song and video, creating a surreal sense to it but also making it very interesting to watch.

           

     Different shot angles and types can be used to create a different tone to a video, it can also work well if you want to show of different parts of the mise-en-scene. A good video for this is Go With The Flow by Queens Of The Stone Age as it use fast shots and close ups to reinforce the surreal and fast paced feel of the rest of the song.

          

     Mise-en-scene can be crucial for a music video as the lighting, objects and setting can work with the music and reinforce the mood of the song to create different emotions. A song I feel does this brilliantly is High school Never Ends by Bowling For Soup

                          

     Another good one for the use of Mise-en-scene would be Passenger Scare Away The Dark as the lyrics and video sync together really well and the use of the mise-en-scene reinforces this well as well whilst creating a slightly surreal feel to the video but it works well together.

           

Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Weird_Al%22_Yankovic#Positive

Once Upon a Dream Pre Production Paperwork

Location Releases

Talent Releases

 Propp List

Shot List

Production Schedule

Risk Assessment

Story Boards

Character Development Script

Single Camera Production Evaluation

     After finishing the Single Camera Production unit the final product was screened to the entire class and we all received feedback on our final products including feedback from ourselves and others in our group.

            

     When our group sat down for the first time and decided on what script we should make we ended up choosing my script mainly because it was the easiest to shoot as it was set in a college environment allowing for us to film almost whenever we wanted and not having to worry about time as much as we would have if we had to travel to the set and when it was available to do so. There was certain things in the script that we had to change due to the time of filming and budgeting just as there would have been with any script but nothing was changed dramatically and as we went through filming there was even bits that we realized were not really needed.

     Although this was not my first time shooting with a DSLR as I have done it for previous college projects and projects outside of college such as Zirus it still proved to be challenging in some aspects as there's always things to learn and things that can easily be forgotten. Some of the hardest things to get right when filming was the correct exposure and focus and even if the focus was right it was easy to accidentally change it during a shot. This is also backed up in some of the class feedback as some of the comments we received included "Ext. Cinema shots are too bright" and "The Cafe entrance shot is out of focus." Exposure proved to be harder the lighter or darker the area was and especially so if we were trying to get a shot from outside walking in as the screen would just go black due to the extreme change in light. Another problem we encountered was stability if we weren't using a tripod and in some certain shots we didn't use a tripod because it physically wouldn't fit into the filming area and as a result the shot looked poor and ultimately it was cut from the final product.

     When filming we often went out and got what we needed thinking that would be enough only to come back and find that it resulted in us having either a continuity error or a jump cut or sometimes even both so when it came to obtaining adequate footage sometimes we did not get as much as we needed. A prime example of this is in the last scene we had to add the Christmas lights before we walked into the cinema holding hands otherwise we had a jump cut and continuity error so although we found ways around our errors we did realize what we had done wrong however as a result of this it made the last shot a bit pointless and this was picked up on as on piece of feedback we received was "Don't like the shot at the end after the lights have shown once." So our error didn't go unnoticed and caused a problem with another shot.

     During the pre-production stage each member of the group was assigned a certain scene which we would direct in filming and edit ourselves which was interesting as we had never really done anything like that beforehand so when filming came it proved to be an interesting challenge. My ones to direct were the final few from the cafe onward and |I feel the went well but could have been better. When we were shooting the scene where Sophie opens the present from Tyler the shot where she opens the present was rather long so in editing we cut it up but it looked alright however when the present was open the title was cut off so I decided to get a reaction shoot in which we could cut to then get one more shot of the book where the title could be seen. So although things didn't go to plan all the time I managed to work around it but the were other times where I wasn't as observant and things didn't work out as well.

   I was reasonable happy with the finished product however there was things which I wasn't happy with and thought could have been done better. I was really impressed with the camera and editing in our piece as most of it looked really nice and professional and when it came to editing we all pulled our weight and helped out with it making it relatively easy and fun to do however there was some times where the camera was over/underexposed or out of focus and during editing certain things we messed up on may have made the edit harder such as shots that don't look good enough or in some cases having a lack of shots. I thought the mise-en-scene was really well done as it was written to be set in a college so it worked really well and even in the Cafe and British Heart Foundation the fact that we got permission to film there was brilliant and made the scene look so much better however my only problem with the mise-en-scene was the lack of Christmas decorations so the theme didn't feel very believable. I personally feel the worst part about the finished product was the sound, the songs were used effectively however when it came to the sound recorded from the camera there was always loads of background noise and the sound would jump horrendously so some bits of dialogue didn't sound very good at all, I think this was easily the worst part about the final product. The class also picked up on this as some of the feedback we received said that "The ambient noise is far too loud throughout" and that the "Sound at the start is tinny" which I do agree with another comment was that they "Would have liked some more music throughout and less ambient noise" So there was a lot of areas where we can improve on when sound is concerned.

   Although there were many things that went well with the project there was also things that didn't go so well such as the sound issues and some issues with coverage. I feel the scenes where mise-en-scene were important ultimately went well and were some of our strongest scenes especially the cafe scene as it was really eye-catching due to all the colors and you could easily tell it was a cafe. The things that didn't go so well were the sound issues and coverage so next time I will make sure to get enough coverage and more so that I know we have enough footage also if we get more shots that should help with certain sound issues otherwise the only other answer would be to invest in better sound equipment. This project has taught me many things one of them being how to manage a schedule although we didn't exactly keep to the schedule this is why I learnt how important it is to have one and to follow it. It has also taught me to be less impatient with my work as if things are rushed then your work can suffer from it and it shows in the final product.