Evaluation Of preliminary exercise (Mr.H)

Task: 

Clear reference to the bried, your planning process, how your storyboard/shot list helped create the final product and what you would do differently next time in terms of pre-production
needs to be a minimum of 500 words
Detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of your film
Confident use of media language, particularly film language, showing clear understanding of the key concepts of Media Studies (MIGRAIN)

Evaluation: 

In order to start filming and know where to start from in our group of three, which included me Aaron and Vijay, we had decided to create a story board so we know what the preliminary exercise film will actually be about, where it will be set out, and what shots and camera movement types we are considering.

What did we do well? 

Firstly, I think my group did well because we hadn't broken the 180 degree rule as the exercise was filmed over my right shoulder and Aaron's right shoulder. This allowed cameraman Vijay to focus on one side of the room as we had our conversation sitting opposite each other on the common room table.
The exercise was well focused because when Aaron was entering the room, his face became focused slowly as he walked, this showed he is coming closer and therefore was effective, similarly - when I was walking out the same type of blur was used by Vijay whilst filming in order to give the same affect of me getting closer. Furthermore my mobile was also focused as my chat was shown, this wasn't a sudden focused it had focused in slowly, to make the audience wanting to know what the messages will say, and the messages were then focused shortly.
Match on match action shot when opened the door to the room, where I was sitting down waiting for her. We also came up with a short, yet intriguing dialogue to interest the audience within the 40 seconds of filming.
l liked the pace of the our work because it focused well on the actors (Aaron, and I), for example, him walking into the room in the beginning, as well as him then opening the door, then when I walked out the pace of that also fit in accordingly to the mood, as I was slow and then paced up as I saw a friend to show excitement in the end and waved.
There were a few different shot types used, range of different types of shots e.g. long shot when Aaron is walking towards the door, high angle shot when he opens the door, a close up for Aaron's hand just before the match on action, as well as my mobile in order to show the chat on my phone.

What could be improved? 

We thought that two of our transitions were irrelevant and over the top as it was dissolve during a conversation making the exercise seem like it was a dream, and this looked unprofessional, a fade transition should have been used instead.
When the mono pod was used (during the first 10 seconds of the conversation) the shot was wobbly making the work look unprofessional, we could have dealt with this issue by using a tripod or either re-taking until achieve reach a steady shot.

What did we learn? 

Overall working with Vijay and Aaron was a good experience, we learnt many valuable lessons as well as acknowledging what we did well. We will take these on board and continue to do your productions using the preliminary exercise as a guide.