Evaluation of The Prisoner

Evaluation of The Prisoner

Shots

I has some trouble making sure that the focus was right when I was filming some of my shots because I found that the close up shots were the hardest to get in focus. However, I also struggled with two of my shots at the beginning of the video and this is because the focus wasn't quite right. This was easily fixed in the editing process because I was able to make these shots blurry which I thought was quite effective. Now that the shots are blurry, you can't see the actor walking down the path which adds a little bit of mystery to the video. It also focuses attention on the names of the actors and the director which I thought was quite useful.

I didn't use all of the shots that I could have done because some of them didn't really fit in when I decided not to use part of the script. For example, I didn't use a downward tilt and this was because it didn't really fit in with any of the lines. I was going to use one at the end when one of the actors falls to the floor but I trimmed this out in the video because I thought that it didn't work and I wanted to leave the ending open.

Trimming the shots was a problem because although I had recorded the shot a few times to make sure that I got the right shot, there would always be a problem with one of them. Sometimes the actors wouldn't take it seriously and they would start laughing when I was recording them which meant I had to re-take the shot. Because of this, I had trimmed some of the shots down too much and it almost cuts off the end of what is being said.

 

Opening Credits

 

I wanted to try using some effects on my opening credits because it was something that I've never done before. I thought that it would be quite a mysterious effect if the letters flashed for the name of the video. This was quite difficult to do because it took a long time making sure that all of the letters had been covered with a black box so that they would flash. One of my letters wasn't fully covered though and this lost the effect that I wanted the credits to have.

 

The names of the actors and director also flashed because I wanted them to follow the same kind of idea as the title. However, when I was doing this I was still unsure about if it would look good because it looks like the words are jumping too much which can be quite annoying when you're trying to read them.

 

Sound

The sound quality isn't the best on The Prisoner and this is because it started raining half way through which meant that the actors had to speak louder. There was also an annoying buzzing noise when I was videoing outside so it would have been a good idea to have muted these shots so that the sound wasn't there and I should have used some music with the opening credits to help set the mood.

 

Editing and Effects

I haven't used many effects in my piece because I felt that if I used lots of effects the shots would have too much variation and it would be difficult to follow what was going on.

There is a fade out at the end of the video which I felt the need to use because of the way that it cuts out. I decided that I didn't want Robert to fall to the floor with laughter surrounding him because I felt that it was so out of place. I trimmed this shot so that you don't see Robert fall to the floor and because of this the ending is left unfinished and feels that something else needs to be said/done.

Things I will consider in my next project:

• Shots - I need to make sure that I have used a wide range of shots and that they all work well with the video as a whole. 
• Focus - the focus in some of my shots from The Prisoner were poor because they were blurry so next time I will need to check my shots to ensure that they are all clear and you can see everything that is going on. I will also consider adjusting the focus in some of my shots to see what effect that will have and this will involve getting to know the camera a lot better.
• Sound and Music - next time I will consider using music in my video because music can help set the mood. I will also need to make sure that the humming sound in the background is less obvious and continuity of the sound from the previous shot is carried on into the next one.
• Editing and Effects - I really liked my opening credits of The Prisoner and this is another area which I would like to become advanced in because this can be really effective at the beginning of a video. However, the credits that follow were weak so I will need to make sure that they are easy to understand.