Evaluation of Camerawork and Editing

Camerawork

The camerawork used in the opening is varied and makes use of various angles and techniques. There were some issues however, as some of the establishing shots that we had hoped to film were filmed handheld, as the tripod that was provided by the sixth form was, unfortunately, very short and only reached an approximate height of 60cm, so most of the shots it could have used it for would have been low-angle shots. Low-angle shots are only used in the family film genre to establish POV or a villainous character, and close-ups, mid-shots and establishing shots were needed, so the tripod was not used often for this reason, and the fact that the uneven ground made it hard to balance the legs without constant attention. As a result, many shots that should have been stable were not as steady as originally intended, which could have been improved by a taller, more malleable tripod. The crew were, however, forced to compromise by using more handheld and POV shots due to the lack of appropriate equipment. As a positive repercussion of this change to more handheld and POV shots did give the film a subtle ‘home movie’ feel to it without ruining the element of professionalism, which adheres to the genre and allowed the cast to be involved in the filming process as well.

Editing

In terms of editing, the limited quantity of shots that was available at first meant that the film couldn’t be completed as fast as hoped, causing some scheduling difficulties. This problem was solved quickly as the shots were re-filmed, the following week, specifically transitional and establishing shots, though a lot of these issues were helped by the context provided by the rewritten narration. There were some issues in editing in regards to the audio and, should we come across this problem again, it proved that using one type of audio is better than trying use more than one type at the same volume or accidentally overlaying more than one dialogue.