The Prisoner

The Prisoner

Hello! This is my video for The Prisoner.

 I hope you enjoy it!

(Special thanks to Robert Wilkinson and Callum Mellis for taking part in the video)

The Prisoner from Rebecca Wilkinson on Vimeo.

Editing of The Prisoner: The Outcome

Editing of The Prisoner: The Outcome

The script

Although I did stick to the script for the majority of my video, I also decided not to use some parts of the script such as the location that we are given at the beginning and the laughing at the end because I thought that the laughing would be a little bit too much and I wanted my ending to be left open to people's interpretation.

The trimming

I have trimmed down my videos so that the pace of the script is quite quick and I have also changed a shot that I had originally decided to use. I thought that it would be a good idea to use two shots of one of the actors walking into the room to meet the other actor. I used a shot of them opening the door and suddenly changed to them walking into the room and closing the door behind them which I thought was quite effective. 

Things I found hard

• I found it quite hard to stick to the script and to make sure that I was doing everything that I had planned but I kept referring to it to make sure that I hadn't missed out any vital parts
• I also found it quite hard to keep my actors motivated so that they would take it a little bit more seriously. They soon became bored with repeating each line because I had to make sure that I got the right clip to use in the video so it would flow nicely.
• The weather is an issue in the video because half way through recording it started raining which was really annoying.
• Making sure that the focus was right in my shots. The focus was quite difficult to get right because on the camera screen the video looked in focus but on a larger screen it was quite blurry. However, in the first couple of shots, I thought that I liked the blurry effect it gave so I made it even more blurry.

Effects I used

At the beginning I have use an effect on the video footage where I have made it blurred so that you can just see someone walking towards something but you don't know where it is that they're going to or what they look like. I wanted to leave this as a mystery because I also wanted to use an effect on the opening credits.

I also used an effect on the opening credits where I have the name of the video flashing and each of the letters flash which I thought would really suit the theme of the video. I then did the same with the names of the actors and the person who directed it. I wanted to use this flashing effect because I wanted the audience to think that something was wrong which is typically associated with a flashing light.

Safety

I wanted to ensure that my actors would be safe when I was videoing them. To ensure that they would be safe I would make sure that if they were walking past the camera then they wouldn't trip up on the tripod.

Editing of The Prisoner: What I have done so far and what I will do next

Editing of The Prisoner

What I've done so far:

I have cropped each of my shots to make sure that they go on for the right amount of time and there isn't too much of a pause between each line. I have also put all of the shots in the right order so that it flows nicely.

I have also slightly changed my script because I wanted to leave the ending open instead of finish with the laughing and one of the actors falling to the floor because I felt that this didn't work.

What I will do next:

I will make sure that my video runs smoothly and consider the transitions and music/sound effects I'll use.

I will also add some titles to the video so that it shows the name of the video, who starred in it etc.

Editing of The Prisoner

I have just started editing for The Prisoner and I have cropped the clips and put them in the right order. 

Planning for The Prisoner

Planning of The Prisoner

 

How I started planning:

• I started by reading through the script and planning out what shots to use and how it would look when I used them.
• I then considered the movements of my actors and how I would want them to react to what they're saying. To do this, I looked through the script and thought about how I would feel if I was in this situation. I then wrote down what I thought would work and how I would explain it to my actors.
• I then wrote up the script with all of the directions the characters would need to be able to act out the scene. I had to ensure that there was enough detail for them to understand how the script would work.
• I then printed off the script and updated my original copy to make sure that everything was the same on each script.
• Once I had become accustomed with the script, I started planning my storyboard and how each shot would look. I needed a lot of sheets for planning this out because I would be using quite a lot of shots so that anyone watching my video would understand what was going on. For example, the beginning has quite a few shots and this is so that the audience will be able to see where the character is walking and where they are walking to, how they are feeling and what the character looks like.
• The storyboard included the type of shot I would use and what movement I will use. It also has the timing of each of the shots so that I didn't waste too much time recording a line that might only need a short amount of time to be spoken.
• I also started considering where I would film my video because the script is quite specific. I needed to find a dark room that was quite quiet as well as a building that I can film one of the actors walking into.

 

Planning for Filming:

• I needed to start thinking about how I would film and to stick to the rules.
• Firstly, I started by thinking about my master shot and recording the whole scene to make sure that I would always have constant audio and video to refer back to.
• I then considered how many times I would need to take each shot. To ensure that I got the right shot, I would need to take the shot at least 3 times.
• Something else that I considered was making sure that the camera was recording for at least 5 seconds before the scene is meant to officially start. This was to ensure that I got the whole shot and didn't cut out any of the lines that the actors will say.
• I also considered recording 5 seconds after the shot so that it wouldn't cut out too quickly and miss some vital information.
• My actors will find it incredibly annoying because of the amount of times I need to film each shot so I also needed to consider how I would keep them entertained. I would need to give them a break so that they wouldn't get too tired or start complaining.
• I have also considered using more than one camera to see if I could try different shots and quickly flip to another shot of the other character and how they were reacting to what was being said. However, this would be quite hard to do when it comes to editing because the audio will need to flow together and if the shot changes then the audio will too. So if I do decide to go down this route then I will have to ensure that the audio will work when I edit the video.

 

Health and Safety

Health and safety is another factor that I have considered because it is important that I can keep my actors safe when I am filming them.

• Firstly, I will need to make sure that there aren't any hazards in the room when I start filming them because they could potentially hurt themselves.
• I will also need to make sure that no one will trip up over the camera and tripod because the actors could hurt themselves and it could also damage the equipment.
• When I start filming, I will need to make sure that no one else is in the shot because some people will feel uneasy about this.

 

Other aspects I have considered:

1. Continuity - I will need to make sure that my actors don't change anything about the way they look because this could potentially ruin the video. The lighting could even change and this could be a problem when filming.
2. Making sure that the actors know their lines before I start filming - this could be a problem if I start filming my master shot and one of the actors forgets their lines.
3. Booking the camera and tripod to make sure that I have it for my scheduled days of filming.
4. Working to a deadline and making sure that everything that needs to be recorded has been done and that anything that I planned to do on a certain day has been completed.
    

 

 

 

 



Storyboard planning

I started planning my storyboard early this week so that I knew what shots to use and the order I would like them to be in.

Here are some of the sheets I've filled in.

 

 

Tour of the School 2 Review

Tour of the School 2 Review

 

 

Planning

• I used the sheet that told me all of the possible movements I could use in my video. From this, I was able to plan out where I would video the movements and how I could do some of the more tricky ones such as the over head pan
• My original plan was to film different parts of the school and to make a story out of it. This was going to include a year 12 student chasing a year 7 student. The year 7 student was going to be scared because they thought that they were going to get hurt when actually, the year 12 student just wanted to give the year 7 their planner.
• However, due to unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to be in the lesson which meant that I was going to have to use other shots that Ben, Laura and Elleah had done.
• Using these shots, I was able to edit them in a way that would link together quite nicely.
 

 

What did you find difficult?

One of the problems I faced was not knowing what had been filmed. This was due to my absence  in the lesson so had to make sure that all of the movements had been used.

 

 

What would you change?

I would have liked to have made the over head pan and follow movements a little bit smoother because they were quite unsteady. This is due to the camera being heldhand which is quite a tricky thing to do.

 

I would also make sure that the camera was running for 5 seconds before and after the shot to make sure that the shot wouldn't cut in half way through.

 

Something else that I would change is how there was a pause between the camera being used and Elleah walking. For example, the slow plan and follow shot towards the end could have been smoother by making sure that there wasn't a delay between Elleah walking and the filming.

 

What will you do differently next time?

Next time, I would like to film each of the shots twice to make sure that the shot is perfect.

 

I will also make sure that the camera is filming 5 seconds before I actually want the shot to start to ensure that there aren't any random parts where the subject is waiting to move.

 

Risk Assessment

1.) Something that we considered was the overhead pan and making sure that the camera was fitted correctly to the tripod. If the camera wasn't fitted properly then it could have fallen and hit Elleah and possibly broke.

 

2.) We also needed to consider when the corridors were being used because if they were busy someone could have walked into the camera or tripped over the tripod. This could have caused them to hurt themselves or damage the equipment.

 

3.) Also when filming our shots, we could have filmed someone who might have not wanted to be in the video. This would have been a problem because they wouldn't have wanted people to see them in our video. We needed to consider the times of when we used the corridors because other people could have been using them too.

 

4.) The follow movement was something else that we considered as this could have been problematic. This was due to the pace at which Elleah was skipping and how the camera also needed to move at the same speed so that we could keep following her. However, the person holding the camera could have tripped because they were concentrating on making sure that the camera was staying relatively steady. 

Tour of the School 2 Video

Tour of the School 2

 

 

Hi! I have finished filming and editing Tour of the School 2. In this task we had to use different camera movements.

 

 

Enjoy! 

M:BeccaShotsFootage 2Tour of the School 2 from Rebecca Wilkinson on Vimeo.

Editing for Tour of the School 2

I'm currently exporting my video to start uploading it - it should be ready very soon!