Evaluation of 'Shots' Task

Evaluation

Outline of the task
The task we were set was to learn about the different types of camera shots that could be used within our videos. We were given a list of shots, a camera and a tripod and were asked to- in pairs or alone- shoot each type of shot to later be edited together into a shots sequence. The shots we were asked to shoot were:

• Extreme long shot
• Very long shot
• Long shot
• Medium long shot
• Medium shot
• Medium close up
• Close up
• Big close up
• Extreme close up
• High angle
• Low angle

What went well?
I felt that the majority of the task went well. Both myself and Ben developed new skills and gained knowledge in camera work that we will be able to use throughout the rest of the course. Our final product that we created shows the development of high quality shots from different angles and positions and we also chose to incorporate music into our video as an added effect. The shooting of the shots was definitely our strongest area in this project, we found the camera easy to operate and we were able to capture clear, steady shots that looked and felt professional. Our development in our understanding of shots also improved rapidly through this exercise and by physically moving the position of the camera and taking advantage of features such as the zoom, we were able to learn for ourselves the effects of using different angles and how to make each shot interesting for the audience.

What did we find difficult?
Our biggest challenge through this task was working out how to use the tripod. Neither me nor Ben had actually used a big professional tripod before to capture footage on and working out how to assemble it and position it in order to capture the right shots turned out to be extremely difficult. Not being confident in using the tripod also made it difficult to shoot the correct shots. For example when we shot our original high angle shot:

we found it very difficult to tilt the camera down in order to put our subject in a weak position. In the end we managed to work out how to use the 'kronk' in the middle of the tripod and tilted the whole thing forward in order to get even somewhat of a high angle effect. We also found experimenting with the editing software very challenging. Again this was our first time using a professional editing software- that wasn't the basic windows movie maker. However, we used this opportunity to play around with different effects and transitions that came with it and by the end we gained a lot of valuable knowledge about editing.

What would we do differently next time?
If I were to do this task again I would ensure that I spent a little more time planning out and understanding the different styles of shots. By doing this the shots that we created may have had a greater effect and impact within the end product. I would also spend sometime before shooting, going through the basic elements of the both the camera and the tripod, making sure I fully understood how to use both and the different parts of each and how they could be used to improve my work.

Conclusion
In conclusion I am very pleased with how our 'Introduction to shots' video turned out. The shots we produced and the knowledge we gained throughout will be valuable in helping us understand the importance of shots in our future projects. As well as gaining experience, I have also had a lot of fun making this video. It was nice to be behind the camera and experimenting with different angles, positions and backgrounds and developing new skills in editing. I have really enjoyed this first project of the course!