Progression from 'Late Arrival' exercise to 'Delinquent'

Our preliminary task of the 'Late Arrival', our second ever attempt at filming. Even several months ago, we were training to complete a two minute opening of a chase, as in both preliminary exercises, Abbie and I used an intense atmosphere to create a chase scene.
This preliminary task helped us greatly in the main task, not simply with the experience it gave us with the camera equipment and the editing technology, but also with different camera shots, angles and how the composition of shots is an important part of making a film. This experience is prominent and evident in our 'Delinquent' film, in the shot of the teacher walking down the stairs, which is shot from above, showing the character's vunerablility.
The preliminary also gave Abbie and I the oppertunity to make mistakes that we could later learn from.
Two errors in this preliminary exercise include the continuity problem. This was shown with the watch used. Although not very obvious, this lack of continuity with the two different types of watches was still apparent, and Abbie and I learnt to avoid this in our final project, almost entirely! Continuity was still an issue, however, as the teacher was wearing glasses in one shot, and was not wearing glasses in the very next shot. This disorientated the viewer, and detracts from the overall excellence of the film.

A further error with the preliminary was with the camera work. As Abbie mentioned in an earlier post, one of the shots in 'Late Arrival', a zoom from an over-the-shoulder shot to a close up of the character's hand, was very jerky. This shot was very jerky, and made the audience feel disorientated.
We therefore took note of this, and whilst filming 'Delinquent', we ensured that all camera work was steady, aside from shots that were required to be shakey. This contributed greatly to the overall proffessional look to our film.

Some comments on this preliminary film include:

Editing
"I like the idea of the transition being like the clock face." Zoe Benjafield
"It seemed to flow really well, nothing seemed out of piece either." Zoe Benjafield
"This piece is a clean little piece of filming, the editing moves nicely along with the scene" Greg Potter

Sound
"The music flows really well, hearing the clock tick-tock." Zoe Benjfield
"The soundtrack and diagetic sound also creates an eerie atmosphere which perfectly suits the mood. " Matt Harrop

Mise-en-scene
"The mise-en-scene also works effectively as the acters look like the characters they are portraying." Matt Harrop
"the sense of realism is constantly brought to my attention, with the use of technology being used by the students like their constant use of the mobile phones and the typical "student" clothing is worn which does give you a feeling that these are actual students in this film."

Camera work
"The use of the close up of the hand tapping on the table was really effective too." Zoe Benjafield
"i really like the end shot which exposes the fear on the characters face." Matt Harrop.

These are all very positive comments! Although, Abbie and I were more critical with the faults of the film, such as the jerky camera and the lack of continutity. This meant that we effectively allowed our film to improve, as we knew we had to improve on the aforementioned points to create a good final piece.

By Catherine Gough