Largely, considering this was our first introduction to using the cameras, microphones, tripods and other equipment, we did quite well. Here, we put to use what we'd learnt about shots, framing, sound and editing. It's far from perfect, there are some unmissable mistakes but they're mistakes we will learn from and hopefully never repeat.
I, and others, agree that we have a really nice range of shots in here. The close ups of Emily's feet, the framing, rule of thirds, two-shots, over-the-shoulder shots etc. I think the diversity of these shots is what keeps it interesting as opposed to the entire thing being shot using one basic framing technique. There are a few things I would improve on if I were to re-shoot this though, and a few other people have commented on. First of all, I would have really liked to put a shot-reverse-shot in during the dialogue as it would have given the conversation a much better flow and would have been better aesthetically and easier to follow. I also noticed that when I was filming, I got the microphone in shot which is always a big mistake. This could have been overcome with cropping but for a preliminary exercise, I don't think that was necessary. The cinematography, in my opinion was also good, we had a few nice horizontal pans which changed the shots up a little bit, but when Emily sits down, the pan down is jerky, too slow and doesn't go down far enough. It's also a slight high angle and ideally I would have liked to shoot her at eye level which is much more comfortable for an audience to view.
Editing-wise, I think I definitely learnt the importance of having enough footage. The continuity in this at times is questionable. When the shot of Emily walking cuts to a close up of her pushing the door, there is a noticeable pause which could be overcome with tighter editing. This would have just made the action match a bit smoother and more believable. Another thing is, when Emily enters the room, suddenly, her hands are up to her face although they weren't when she entered the room which I think is the most obvious problem and definitely one of the more noticeable mistakes we made. I would have liked to get more takes of Emily entering the room to get the perfect shot to edit together, but unfortunately, we thought we had it, later to discover that we were wrong. A smaller, less noticeable edit, but one I believe is important, is the way we matched Emily's steps when cutting to a close-up of her feet, keeping in mind which foot she was putting down and making sure it was the same when it cut. It just made the edit less noticeable and the continuity flow a lot nicer. The sound in our piece, isn't bad either in my opinion. We did have to edit sound levels though, as in the dialogue it was quite hard to hear some of the things they were saying. I'm really glad we managed to capture the sound of Emily's footsteps though, following her with a microphone by her shoes. I just think it really adds something to the short sequence.
Overall, this piece has it's flaws but for a first try, I'm quite proud of it. The mistakes we made weren't too large but they are certainly ones we'll know not to make again. It's taught us a lot about editing, to stop, think, and check everything before we start and stop shooting and to always keep continuity in mind as well as getting a wide variety of shot types and styles.
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