Pre-lim evaluation

            An evaluation of the Pre-lim task

For the duration of the pre-lim task, I served as the camera operator, with members of the group being Director of photography (Jacob), Director (Callum), and producer (Radjvnder).  This task required us to produce a thirty second long music video, using our chosen song for the pre-lim task. It’s safe to say, that we gathered a wide range of shots from close ups, to long shots, so we could for fill the 30 second time period and meet the briefs criteria. Along side this; our time management was of a high standard as we completed shooting across two whole lessons. We managed to save time by completing plans of our shots, as well as listing dates for camera bookings, so we could become collectively organized. I believe that we were successful during most area’s of the task. Our organization was key, and what helped out a lot, was the fact we created a group chat amongst Facebook, where we could post idea’s and have discussions about the task which kept us updated on anything we had planned.

Paper containing some of our planned out shots

I also believe that we used a range of genre conventions expertly, as we received feedback from gathering students based in the study room as well as creating a Vox Pox where we gathered sixth form students to answer different questions, who all agreed that the genre (rap) was well established during the Pre-lim task. We managed to achieve this, by using genre conventions such as graffiti, which can be seen down below. This creates themes of poverty, crime and anti-social behaviour, which are all linked and featured heavily in the rap industry, especially from artists such as Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and The Game. To reflect the genre, we also wanted to contrast these negative themes, with luxury and wealth. As a result, we decided to use a prop (mise-en-scene) which resembles a throne, as it serves as an iconic symbol for royalty and wealth. 

However, one thing I thought we could improve on was the narrative, as it didn't really have any structure or story to it. This could of been due to the short length of the Pre-lim task. Although it could be described as Episodic, and can be compared to some modern day rap music video's, such as "100" by The Game. We will definitely work on our narrative for the main task so we can include a structured story for the video. Although it was done professionally, I think we could of Improved lip syncing by adding more into the music video. The syncing itself, was done very well, but we could of used more shots of the artist lip syncing to break up the video, resulting in a less repetitive music video.

Overall, I found that the task went extremely as a result of successful planing and team communication. We were able to achieve and meet the deadlines set, as well as time to edit, which was really beneficial as we could get filler shots if something was missing when editing the final piece. We also had great equipment at our espousal which helped increase the quality of our work, and the correct software, which was nice and simple to use. This allowed us to use various editing techniques which made the piece more interesting and unique. This task also served as a good indication of what to expect for the main task, as well as what we need to include and improve for the future tasks.