Evaluation of Mini Brief

To plan my evaluation out, I wrote brief notes on each section of the video so I can identify the strengths and weaknesses.

Evaluation

I have chosen a black screen for the opening title because the colour connotates prehaps danger or death which forebodes the coming action. There is a non-digetic sound effect which immediately hints what genre it is going to be. I think that this strongly reflects the genre of horror.

When Mia and Izzy are walking up the stairs, the camera tilts to follow them which was done smoothly. However, there is unnecessary space between them which pulls the audience away from the action. I think that this was not a very strong opening to the mini brief, because an establishing shot was not used so the audience may not know where the characters are.

Here, I think that the match on action was done fairly well because it seems continuous and seamless. However if you look very closely, in the first shot, Izzy's hand was behind the door but then it cuts to when her hand is already on the door. There is only a slight difference, fortunately, so it is not noticeable when watching it. Another fault in the two particular shots is that Mia is wearing her blazer in one, but then not in the next. This mistake occurred because it was shot over two different days.

The action jumps in too quickly because the speech starts almost immediately after the camera started filming which makes it seem not continuous from when they just sat down on the couch. This can be quite displeasing to the eye because it changes so quickly.

I have used the editing technique of shot reverse shot which I think I have accomplished it quite well. I have followed the 180° rule so that both the characters seem to be looking directly at each other when having the conversation. The only problem with it was that in the first shot, the framing was not very good because the character is more to the left of the screen. This takes the focus off of her and leaves a lot of dead space. However, in the second shot, Mia is in the centre and the focus was on her face, so the framing was correct.

I think the camera work here was not very professional because the zooming out was not smooth. I think that in terms of the sound matching in the ringtone, I did a good job making it sound realistic and smooth. However, I picked up that there was a slight volume difference in it which shows that it was filmed in two separate clips. Furthermore, Mia was cut out of the scene so the framing doesn't cover both characters. The focus point was also slightly lower than there faces, so to resolve the issue, the camera could of been a bit higher up.

Shot reverse shot has been repeated in these shots. Again, there is a lot of dead space and Mia is wearing her blazer again. 

When the camera was panning around the room, it was slightly shaky because a tripod was not used to steady it. This makes it seem not so professional. I have chosen to have a digetic sound sound effect to show that the light bulbs have cut out unexpectedly. I think that it fits in with what is happening in the scene. Another choice I made was to have an animation so that the screen fade to black. In my opinion, it makes the scene stronger because it makes it seem realistic when the lights go out instead of cutting to a black screen so abruptly.

Next, there is a non-digetic sound in the background which gets louder. I think that it fits and adds to the genre of horror because it adds suspense and tension. It also foreshadows the following events. When the black screen is removed, the masked man is positioned in the middle of the frame so that the audience would direct their attention to the character on screen. the sound effects come to an abrupt end which can be quite unexpected and surprising to the audience. It builds up anticipation where a scream is followed shortly. My decision was to make the screen black towards the end so that the audience can not see what is happening next-it finishes on a cliffhanger. I think that this was effective because it leaves the audience curious and the ending a mystery. 

In general, I think that I have stuck to the requirements of the mini brief throughout the clip. However, there were some overall faults in the scene. There are school bags and blazers in the background which ruins the mise en scene, making it appear unrealistic. Also, since it was shot over two different days, there are some noticeable differences such as costume and hair changes. Furthermore, over the period of days, the furniture had been moved so when we placed the furniture back into position, there was a slight difference.