Evaluation- Late For College

 Evaluation- Late For College

While filming our short film, ‘Late For College’, our group tried to be as precise and accurate in regards to the script as possible. However, there were a few problems that interfered.

Firstly, only in editing did I realize that microphone picked up a lot of wind, instead of masking it. This is when we realized that the Zoom microphone should be mainly used for recording speech, not outside ambience noises. Therefore, we had to turn down the volume to ensure that the wind could not be heard. Furthermore, another way in which we fixed this was by adding some background music, which actually helped bring the overall atmosphere and vibe of the film together, which made this a positive factor of our short film. However, I have noted this; next time using a microphone that is covered, such as the Rhode microphone would be more ideal to use in order for my projects to reach their full potential.

Another problem that we encountered while filming was lighting of the most of the scenes were quite dark. For example, when we actually filmed inside the college or my house, the lighting in different areas could change quite drastically, going from dark to bright quite often. We tried to fix this during the process of filming by turning on the lights in my house, however it unfortunately did not make much of a difference. Therefore, during editing, I tried to fix this during the colouring and grading process as best I could, however it ended up looking grainy and of poor quality. Therefore, in order to improve next time, I will ensure I know how to use the camera settings such as the aperture properly, in order to let more lighting in or use a portable a light/ 3 point lighting to light up the subject.

Throughout this specific project, my peers in my group stated that I had a very directorial role throughout as I often pointed out certain things we should film or giving the actor ways in which she could act that would make the short film more effective. Furthermore, my peers continued to state that during editing, certain scenes were quite dark and that I needed to brighten up the scenes a bit more, which I tried to do however like stated before, this was due to our groups lack of knowledge on how to adjust the camera aperture properly, but camera knowledge is something I will continue to work on. In regards to the short film, my peers stated that it could’ve been a lot better, for example, they stated that the actress failed to portray the “rushing” aspect behind the film which made the film appear to be longer than it should. Additionally, the audio appeared to be lazy due the wind we caught in microphone, however in my own personal edit, I cancelled this out with royality free music which also helped making the film more “rushed”.

However, this project has many strengths including the fact that we stuck to the pre-production work that we produced. There were a few minor changes, however it all came to together well. I believe that the sequence flows well and the colouring fixed most of the scenes that were too dark. Furthermore, the ambience and soundtrack fit well with the video, which means that in conclusion, I am content with the work that I produced.