AS Media Studies- Half-Term homework Assignment, Laurence Williamson

1. Use Of The Camera

Our finished work shows that we can hold a shot steady. It shows this as there are no unsteady shots in the film, this is due to the access we had to a tripod which made it all a lot easier as it saved us from handheld filming. The only shot that is slightly wobbly is the final shot where we filmed in the forest and panned the camera upwards towards the end.

We framed each of our shots correctly as everything that needed to be in the foreground was in the shot, for example when there is the close up of his face, that is the only thing that needed to be in the shot, and when there is the over the shoulder shot in the forest, it is just him and the trees in the shot and that was all that was appropriate.

We used a variety of shot types appropriately, and found it quite easy. We followed the YouTube film that we remade, as when there is a close up face shot in the original, we made sure we had the same shot in ours and when there is a full body shot, we had the same shot too etc.

2. Use Of Editing

Our finished work shows that we can apply the rules of continuity well, apart from one error which we noticed after filming and editing, which is when at the beginning when he opens the door and then there is a close up of him turning on the light switch and it goes back to a full body shot and the door is closed, but it never actually showed him closing the door. But the splitting and trimming of the clips worked very well as I believe that everything flowed together.

We didn't use any editing transitions in our remake, we just put the shots together which worked better than using editing transitions as it made it seem more professional.

3. Selection Of Content

Our finished work shows that we can select appropriate costume for our film genre as all we needed was one dressing gown, which is the only bit of costume used in the original film.

We chose appropriate locations and settings for our film as we followed the YouTube clip as closely as possible. This was by making sure that we used a bedroom, although we couldn't get hold of a mirror so we improvised by using a window. The other location was in the woods and fortunately the two locations were in walking distance of each other.

The actor we chose was brilliant as he was well experienced and got into the character and storyline straight away, his body language, walking movements and his face movements on the close ups were excellent and added that little bit extra to the story.

4. Self-assessment

I contributed to the completion of the film by helping plan the whole thing by adding my opinion to the selection of the actor and the location. I also drew up the planning storyboard. I mainly had control of the camera during filming, using help from Jordan and Matt to decide on focus and exposure and the white balancing of the camera. During editing I gave my opinion to what was being done and added music to it at the end when all of the video editing had been completed.

I think we could improve the finished film by using a few more different shot types to make the film flow just that little bit better as there are a couple of bits which drag, and this could have been avoided by using another shot type.

When it comes to our final coursework film, I don't think there is anything we would change about the way we have done it, apart from maybe planning a little bit better and being a bit more organised.


Laurence Williamson