Continuity Task - First Cut & Analysis

When making our first cut for our continuity task we realised there were quite a lot of problems wrong with it. Therefore we decided to make this our first cut where we could analyse and then build upon the analysis to see our strengths and weaknesses and then of course build on them to improve the continuity task. By analysing a first cut of our continuity tasks it allows us to realise where we went wrong and how we can improve our techniques, ideas, camera work, editing and more to make the overall product more professional. We expected that this would't be amazing as it is our first attempt at making or using any of the camera or editing work that we research and learn about. Therefore we aren't too disheartened about our first cut due to us realising we can improve and its our first attempt. However we want to do better and analysing this first cut will help us massively.

In the following images it show the layout for the software we used to construct and edit the clip. This program is called Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. This is an extremely professional piece of software that the high end of the marketing, film making and advertising industry use. The following images also show the timeline which the clips were placed on in a certain order to create the clip as well as the tools such as the razor tool and the toolbar. However so far all we have used is the razor tool to cut down certain parts of the clips. Furthermore, I luckily already knew a few things about Premiere Pro and all round Adobe as I like editing, graphics and I also do Photography so I therefore knew the basics of what to do which helped our group.

Premiere Pro timeline, constructs the order of the individual clips for the actual whole clip to presented in the order shown, as well as this can create layers in other clips, media and sound.

The preview screen tile in Premiere Pro of the main clip being edited.

PIcture of the entire Premier Pro layout.

Premiere Pro tool bar with the razor tool highlighted.

Picture of imported media section where it stores the media that we use in the clip.

Analysis of First Cut - Problems & What we're going to do:
Some of the main problems we faced when looking back on our first cut was the fact how we didn't include low or high angles shots to show the dominance and the protagonist in the shots. This is a very important part of filming as if you don't have high or low angles in the clip then you cannot establish who the main protagonist or whether someone is superior or inferior to someone else in the scene. Furthermore we also realised that our recording quality was very bad as the camera was never perfectly still and every now and then was slightly nudged or it wasn't completely level. This made our clip look extremely tacky and home made because it just looked as if it was taken on a home recorder by a friend at Christmas as to say. This is no the look we want. We want professional still shots that are level and composed well. As well as this we made a stupid mistake of crossing the 180 degree rule after studying this rule for a long time. This was a very idiotic mistake that we should be getting right. This crossing of the 180 degree rule happens when Hannah runs into the cafe and is seen seating on the right hand side of Georgia. However when filming the shot reverse shot Hannah is then seen on the left hand side of Georgia which ruins the atmosphere of the film as well as the scenes of the audience as they are now seeing the actors from a different angle that shouldn't be shown as it ruins the viewers understanding of positioning on the scene. On the other hand we also had a seen of one girl (Sarah) walking into the cafe which takes way too long and makes the seen boring. This is because nothing really happens and we're just seen watching her walk in and then sit down. We then realised that this should have been broken down into a match on action shot, breaking it down into 3 separate shots of walking in, maybe using high angles to show how she is inferior t the two other girls. This should be presented with a contrasting shot of the girls laughing with a low angle shot to show how they are superior to the girl walking in, with a cut back shot to her going to sit on her own as she is depressed and lonely. This would have improved the clip considerably and made it much more professional as well as making it clearer to the audience what is actually happening in the sound. Sound was also a problem as we realised we could hear others in the background and the noise of cafe, however there wasn't much we could do about this. Therefore we now realise we need to be more careful planning when and where to film as the surrounding sound or lighting cold ruin a scene. Furthermore our teacher then picked out a very important aspect of our filming that we needed to change. We were recording each of the shots but when we were recording we kept trying to zoom in and out of the scene to try and track the character and keep them as the main focus. This looked incredibly tacky and unprofessional, not only because you shouldn't do this, but also because it was done terribly with it jolting and not a smooth gradient zoom. As well as this zooming made the clip very unprofessional and lazy as we should have positioned the camera correctly first and therefore having no need to zoom in or out. We tried to zoom in to keep the character as the main focus, however we now realise we just need to get our margins of the shooting area that is seen on screen as well as where we should place the camera. Finally I noticed that some of the scenes were very jumpy and didn't run smoothly into each other to create a real time clip that looked legitimate. this is something that need to be sorted in the editing stages.

After analysing the first and looking at what was wrong with it as well as what we can and will do to improve; this therefore allows us a group to highlight our weaknesses and stay away from them. As well as this we can now see what not to do and what we should've done and now that we will go and re shoot the shots again we can stay away from these errors and make sure we make a better clip with all the things we need to do in mind and therefore make sure it is acceptable for viewers. By analysing this I have also learnt how hard filming and editng is of a clip especially because this is not even 1 minute and films are hours long so it just shows how magnified it really is and how hard it is. As well as this I now know more technical terms and shots that I can incorporate within our clip to make it more professional. This task has helped a lot with the understanding of editing and what we need to do to improve. Which we will show our improvements in or re shoot of our continuity task.