Preliminary Evaluation

For our Preliminary task, we were given the theme of Happiness. This them could've been about anything but we decided to focus on the topic of food. We were originally thinking about filming at McDonald's but because we were given only 2 hours, we felt like we wouldn't be able to film every shot as it is quite far from the school. So instead, we decided to film at a near by cafe. However, on the day when we got there it was closed so we had to be resilient and think of a place we could film quickly. Because our short film was about food we decided to film next door to the cafe which is called Budgens. This is just a local store but all we needed was a place where we could get food. In my opinion, I feel like we handled the problem well and we still managed to film 14 shots in 2 hours. Throughout this short film I was hoping to include a wide variety of shots so whilst we were story boarding we all discussed how we can portray a story through great cinematography. We spread out responsibilities in our group which then contributed to the production of this short film. Harry acted and edited; Eddy acted and helped with the camera shots; Connie mainly did the camera work and I focused on using the microphone to record ambience sound and sound effects.

Even though our first shot began with our main character, Harry, sitting on a bench this particular shot looked well because of the way the fence and the bench somehow contrast with each other. What I mean by this is that the bars on the fence is vertical whilst the bench is horizontal. They are also two different type of green which makes them a little different from each other. Another thing that went well in this shot was the framing. Even though we were just following vague notes on our storyboards, Connie used the camera very well to make this shot look good. The bench was in the centre of the frame and Harry was sitting on the right side of the bench whilst his bag was on the left side. Although the audience doesn't know where this short film was going, by being placed on the right side of the bench it could suggest that the story is going to move forward or that our main character is going to move from frame to frame. If Harry was placed on the left side of the bench if would make a slight difference because it'll look like he could be dwelling in the past. It was good to place him on the right side of the frame because the audience will start to feel the flow of it once they keep watching.
As Connie, Eddy and I are photography students I feel like this was a good chance to use our camera skills for this short film along with Harry who knows what works in a good film as he is a film enthusiast. Moreover, another reason why this shot looked good was because of the contrasting colours of nature and his clothes. His costume isn't too bright or too dark, it keeps it neutral and goes well with the green background. The reason why it worked so well is because its like the sky and nature coming together, making it represents harmony.

We wanted our story to flow so the next shot is of him standing up then rubbing his stomach. This simple action automatically tells the audience that he is hungry. We used a mid-close up and a tilt for this shot. What went well about this shot is that the background helps the audience focus on his face and his actions. The vertical bars don't distract the audience from what is happening what also went well was the brightness of this shot. Even though it was quite cloudy when we were filming, it looked okay when we re-watched the footage. We had to use natural lighting but it wasn't too dark or too bright and this was good because you can still clearly see his facial expression. To improve, we could add a grumbling effect to give it a slight comedic effect.

We then used a motivated cut to move onto our next shot which shows the audience that he's going somewhere. We used a shallow focus for the background for this over the shoulder shot because it helps the audience focus on him and not his surroundings. It helps the audience have a slight perspective and an attachment to the main character because they want to find out more of the story. This shot could be improved by being a little less shaky but even if the camera was on the tripod, it'd be hard because both actor and camera guy are different heights.

 Even though we used a shallow focus, we still see the lamp post that he's about to past which is placed on the right side of the frame. It helped the audience move on to the next shot which was also a great transition.This is an establishing shot and what went well was that the hedge was the right height. It separates nature from the sky/ clouds and it also separates his head from his body. In my opinion, I like how these two shots just flow and by walking from the left side of the frame to the right, it added to that flow.

The fifth shot, is just another  establishing shot that helps the audience follow the story. Because there are pictures of food on the windows of this shop and shelves of food inside, we know as the audience that this is a supermarket. In my opinion, I like how this shot links in with the previous shots. Although we couldn't film in a cafe like we originally planned, this location was better. I say better because the colour of the shop has a green theme which could link to the park where it was full of nature and the colour of green. By having Harry enter the shop, it helps us move the story forward. He buys food then leave the shop and we show the audience this by using a quick cut to a close up and a pan of him walking out. In the seventh shot, we use another close up to show the audience what he got which was a pain du chocolat and a bottle of oasis.

The eight shot focuses on his facial expressions and to portray this we made him walk towards the camera whilst looking at it. This shot begins with his neutral expression which then transitions to a smile. Although it was cloudy earlier in the film, in this shot its nice and sunny. Both sun and smile are elements of representing happiness. The warm rays from the sunlight and the sharp focus on the smile suggests that food is what makes him happy. I think this shot went well because it was well lit and shows detail through the extreme close up. After this the next shot shows him walking from the right side of the frame to the left. This helps show the audience that he's going back. This shot could be improved by making it look more horizontal and straight. The next five shots helps the story come to an end. In the tenth shot we are introduced to the side character.

In this shot, Eddy is harmlessly sitting behind Harry. Originally, we were planning to have a strong fan behind Harry to blow his hair so that it can give off a comedic effect and it suggests how holy his food is. However, the fan that we had was not strong enough. Apart from that, what went well with this shot is the symmetry between the windows and the three tables. As Harry is the main character, we placed him at the centre of the frame and we moved the middle table forward so that the audience can focus on him. However, this shot didn't look right because of the lighting used. Harry is dark and you can't clearly see him where as Eddy is visible and allows the audience to put all their attention on him. After putting down his stuff, it jump cuts to the next shot which is where he's taking out the food out of the bag.What went well with this shot is that the table and the floor are contrasting colours. This then allows the audience to focus on the food and not the block colours.

The next shot uses a pull focus. Its a close up and and two shot. In this bit of the short film, Eddy is mockingly singing behind him just to annoy him. But because Harry has prioritised his food, he asks Eddy to leave so that he can peacefully start eating. However, in this shot i feel like we had an issue with lighting as it was too dark again. It moves onto showing the audience a side profile. His body is placed on the left side of the frame whilst the food is on the right. Just like at the beginning of the film, he's looking forward or like into the next frame. The last shot is just a close up of the bite he had just taken with the title 'Happiness' coming up on the screen.

Overall, because food makes people happy, I feel that this relatable topic helped us establish a quick and easy story that can be portrayed in many different camera shots. What I've learnt with this overall experience is that there are certain framing techniques that can help the shots flow.