#evalutaion

The brief asked for a total of 5 images regarding architecture photography. Two of those images must make use of lens and distortion correction to make straight lines straight. In this regard I have successfully achieved the brief with the main building and 3/4 view shot being both corrected. While Originally I wanted to do very simple images being inspired by Laura Sanchez which are very abstract and almost graphic. Unfortunatly the background and bthe building it'self are quite complicated and "busy" so I chose a high contrast black and white look imitating a high contrast film like Kodak Tri-X. I feel that the arcitect's vision of this building was one of simplicity and space which I tried to show off with the tools i had to hand, I wish I did get an interior shot but the building is closed until further notice. I used Adove spark for the layout which proved tricky due to that single vertically orientated image of the close up fasteners of the fabric roof of the Dynamic Earth building. Overall I feel like I successfully completed this brief by meeting all the criteria and showing off the arcitects vision and design of this building.

During the filming process we came across a few things that set us back. Because of these there are a few things that I need to make sure that are checked beforehand to make sure that I don’t have the same problems again. The first problem we came across was with our technology. Problems with equipment set us back a lot because we had to re film parts of the scene. This cost us a lot of time which set us back in the filming process, as well as this, we had to organise another time when our actors were able to re-film faulty areas, that was, only if they were willing to give up more of their free time for us. Next time, I need to make sure that the camera is fully charged as well as fully functional to limit any time wasting and difficulty during the filming process. After playing it back multiple times, I have discovered that at 0:42 seconds, the camera man’s refection is seen in the window across the room. In my next task – I need to make sure that this does not occur during filming, and double check before I start the editing process; when there is nothing I can do about it. It ruins the clip as it is not meant to be seen and distracts the audience if noticed. I have also noticed that the camera isn’t very steady at times. To keep a smooth flow throughout the sequence I need to make sure that the camera is moved gently to make the audiences watching experience as good as possible; no one wants to be watching a scene fully of unfortunate wobbly camera movements. Through no fault of their own, our actors did not know their lines very well and ended up referring to their scripts often throughout the filming process (1:13 seconds). However, this can become quite obvious and takes the audience’s attention away from the characters, therefore highlighting the fault. In my next task I need to make sure that all of the actors get their scripts as soon as possible, in order for them to not need them as a guide during the filming process. This will also make all of the dialect feel more realistic, overall making the sequence better. Overall, the sound of this piece isn’t of the best quality – to make this better we could have used sound equipment such as a Mic Capsule, foam windshield, boom pole etc. to make it better, and easier to listen too. I will definitely make sure to use this type of equipment in my next piece to create a better quality sound giving an overall better effect to the sequence. I really enjoyed filming and producing our preliminary task. I mostly enjoyed the editing and putting all of our pieces together. I am very aware that there are a lot of things that could have been done to make the sequence better, but in the short amount of time we had to produce this sequence coupled with the unfortunate technical issues we came across, I am happy with our efforts. I now have a list of things that I can use to make my next piece of work of a high quality.

As a result, I am now able to use a range of different technologies with confidence and would be able to create a good quality piece with the knowledge that I now have.

In our preliminary task our group decided to make our video based around the thriller genre. We didn’t have a title at the beginning and this was because we wanted to create suspense and unease for the audience, to keep them in the dark about what the video was about. We then used a fade in from black to mask our mistake of getting a reflection of the camera in the door and because we thought it flowed nicely because of the following camera movement. We then used a pan around the room to show the audience where the opening sequence would take place, you can also see the shadow of the girl in the chair which we liked because it also shows that someone is in the room who will be a main character. There is no non dietetic music because we wanted to be very quiet so all the audience could hear was the noise that the girl was making, this added tension. The camera then switches from the camera facing the girl to her P.O.V , we did this to show what she was looking at around the room and what she was feeling. This was used so the audience could sympathise with her and the position she was in. We then switched back between the shot of the girl and her P.O.V this was to again empathise how scared she was in that situation. When the man walks into the room we used a J-cut of the door opening to show continuity between the scenes. The camera then goes to the man’s P.O.V to see his perspective of the events that have just occurred. We included this to show the audience what happened to the girl after she fell of the chair onto the ground, it was a better way of showing it compared with watching him go out from the door. We also included diegetic sound of the man breathing as he walked out to create more tension. The scene change is demonstrated by a still establishing shot of a police station. We did this so the audience could see where the next scene was taking place. We then used a jump cut to the interview of the man in the previous scene. In the interview we used mainly long takes at over the shoulder shots; this was to show the two characters reactions to what they were saying and to show power of each of the characters. The long takes were put into place because we wanted to create tension between the two characters; we filmed the whole script from each of the different angles to allow us more freedom when it came to editing. The extreme close up on the mans face was used to show his emotion-annoyance- for the police officer asking him these questions. It was also to change the pace of the scene up a little bit so it wasn’t just all continuous over the shoulder shots. We could have improved on a few small details such as; when the man walks into the room we could have improved a lot. First of all when the girl gets punched and falls to the side she falls the wrong way, making her fall into his arm instead of away from it. Also when she falls the man disappears from the shot, this was because we filmed it at a different time. The sound she makes when she hits the floor doesn’t sound like it should have because she didn’t fall all the way over. Finally when the man walks out of the room there is the sound of heavy breathing, however it was done by the girl in charge of the sound. So it doesn’t sound very manly and deep like a man’s, would in my opinion. In the police scene I think we should have used the clip on mikes instead of the boom mike, this was because the sound wasn’t as clear and some dialogue was louder than other parts. For example when the man says, ‘no comment’ that is louder than some of the police inspector’s dialogue. In my main task I will use the same genre because I liked the way that lots of different types of camera angles and shots we could include, for example our action matching shot and establishing shots. I have learnt a few things from filming my preliminary that I will improve on for my main task that I have explained about above. I think our group worked very well together and we all gave it our all so I don’t think I will change that for my main task. I think our mis-en-scene wasn’t very bad for our preliminary but next time I would rather film in more places and incorporate more places and scenes to make the film more exciting. Our brief was to film and edit a sequence in which a character opens a door, crosses a room and sits down in a chair opposite another character and exchange dialogue. Our first scene doesn’t include any dialogue so we had to fit to the brief in our second scene with the police office. In this scene we used a shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule throughout their conversation to show the audience what they’re thinking about and the relationship between the two. However we did not include someone walking through the door in the second scene because we included in the first one. In our main task we will do more to meet the brief as our preliminary. We used lots of different shots such as action matching in the first scene to juxtapose with the second and create a bigger gap between the differences of the two scenes. Our technical skills were limited in our preliminary; an example of this would be that we didn’t use any Non diegetic sound because we wanted to create tension, however I think we should of included some music to help improve our editing skills. Mostly all of our camera shots we used in the editing of the final piece, we had very few shots that didn’t work and I think our managing of time and our camera movement was used well. We didn’t include a title to start our film with because we wanted the audience to be left in the dark with how much they know about the opening sequence. This worked well.

Week 2 was AV mode and our theme was landscapes and wildlife, I researched about 5 different photographers that captured landscapes and wildlife. The five photographers were Christopher O'Donnell, Gabriela Staebler, Andy Rouse, Steve Bloom and Sally Gall. We learnt how to change the file setting on our camera to RAW, and how to format our SD cards we do this to make sure they are properly empty before data builds up and crashes the SD card it self. We also researched about different sized lens wide angle lens, zoom lens, macro lens and a fixed focus lens. We learnt about depth of field and experimented creating depth of field our selves at the heath in Dartford. We also got the chance to take pictures of Lewis's birds of prey at the heath as well.

After watching the four films I felt more connected to the film 'drowning by numbers' as I had many starting points I could chose from but I settled on researching around the symbology of the number three. This lead me to focus on birth, life and death. One scene in particular I wanted to focus on was the table scene where it was gluttonous and lacked space which was influenced by the vanitas paintings. My first initial research lead me to look at objects relating to birth, life and death and layering them up on a table to create an installation and video piece. The connection to the film would simply be using the table as reference to space and layering and also bringing in the element of numbering objects. As part of my research I looked at artists such as Abraham Van Beyeren and more contemporary artists such as Levin Rodriguez and Lucy Willow who both use vanitas as their inspiration. This influenced me to consider the set out (layers) and want my colour palette would be. Would I chose dull colours like 'drowning by numbers' or do the opposite and use bright? Lucy Willow used quite gothic imagery and colours in her installation piece and I found the use of fabric, jewellery, flowers and various other objects interesting to how she piled these together which all symbolised death. From this I started producing quick drawings of a table scene and created a small version of a death installation which I edited on photoshop and found I wanted to use bright colours and go against the typical black represents death. To extend on the table installation idea this idea of layers lead to having them extending off the table, having objects creeping up and off the wall and floor like it was alive. For this I used spiders which I stuck to the wall and had them emerging off the table and along the floor. To develop this further I have thought about producing a personal installation piece of items relating to me from birth, my experiences in life so far and elements of death I have encounted. I could use photographs, toys, clothes, cards, letters from my parents on the feelings/emotions they felt when I was born. Similarily notes from me on my experiences of life, photos, tickets, holiday items I have experienced, and photos of relatives I have lost, pets, things I've lost but also the loss of not being a child anymore. I feel I produce better work when it is personal to me. I feel my work relates to everyone as women will experience giving birth, everyone has experienced the highs and lows of life and the misery of losing a loved one. As part of my research I picked up on a criticism of using death in art as the living disconnect from the prospect of death but unfortunately it is inevitable. To overcome this I have thought about producing a sound piece of people talking about their experiences of birth, life or death and just by using sound the senses should pick up on emotion (sadness, happiness) by the tone of someone's voice. This should let the audience connect emotionally to the prospect of death if they haven't experienced a loss before. Along with this sound piece I plan to collect images from the people being interviewed of the person/or themselves they talk about and this will then allow the audience to put a name to a face again adding to the emotion. So far from the pieces I have made have been quite success as I feel my strengths are in choosing appropriate materials to my ideas. One element I felt didn't work so well was the butterfly silhouette installation as I think the table could have been too close to the wall to properly see the butterfly shadows and some of the objects blocked there shadow but I felt this didn't really add anything more to the piece as I had butterflies on the installation anyway. So far I feel I am using my time well between creating work, researching artists/texts and reading books and articles for my contextual studies. I have felt some of the theories I have looked at have helped influence the set up of this project like how space in a traditional paintings is in fact spiritual space and the light beam could be classed as this life to the next so this is something I have taken into account from this project. I feel now I need to read a wider range of texts each relating to current projects and contextual projects as I have seen similarities between texts that I can relate to each practice. Also I will manipulate the installation piece more maybe hanging objects from the ceiling, put them in a different environment, change them for more modern symbols? So far I have worked outside of my sketchbook which is a change from last year and I have only collections of mind maps, a few artists work and imagery to help keep me inspired. Other imagery is on a wall to keep me working outside my sketchbook and creating things physically. My documentation of work that I can't physically keep such as installations/sculptures I have uploaded the photos onto my blog with a brief description and research such a videos, articles, quotes  and have kept a written journal with evaluations, ideas and tutorials with my tutors. I feel this is a better way of working for me as last year I felt my sketchbook was time consuming.

If I were to revisit this assignment I would look into the more scientific aspects of the plants and the flowers. And make notes on the way they absorb energy, feed, pollinate and grow. I feel like the current poster styles are more suited for a child's classroom where as I was hoping for something more for high school science classrooms.