Evaluation of the Preliminary Video

After completing my preliminary task in which I was given a brief to film someone walking
through a door and having a conversation with techniques such as shot-reverse-shot, the
180 degree rule and match on action incorporated, I will address whether my video fitted this
brief effectively as well as addressing its strengths and weaknesses.
As a whole, the video clearly does follow the brief effectively as not only does it incorporate
an example of match on action through the phone but it also features a conversation
between the officer and the criminal with shot-reverse shot, the 180 degree rule and it
includes the officer entering through a door. So one of its prime strengths is the way in which
it clearly incorporates the given brief within it. Moreover, the use of music is also another
strength of this video as it is used to create an atmosphere or exaggerate a particular
emotion a character is feeling. The use of the dark,eery non-diegetic music in the officers
POV shot, for example, not only creates a dramatic effect for the audience but it also
emphasises the officers shock at the situation since the shot is from her perspective. As well
as this the video does incorporate a variety of shots such as a POV shot, over-the shoulder
shot, a canted angle as well as close ups to emphasise emotion which can make it look
more interesting for the audience and it allows the audience to see different aspects of the
scene. Also, the use of fonts and colours to create meaning is partly explored since the use
of red links to the idea of violence and bloodshed and the fonts link to gaming with the last
one being thicker to show the large impact it had and to make it more final by making it
stand out; the use of black background could also emphasise the idea of evil and lost hope.
Therefore, incorporating symbolism could be a strength.
On the other hand, there are many weaknesses within this video as not only does it have a
lack of consistently in its lighting (especially in the interrogation scene) due to the confusion
of light sources, but it also does incorporate shots that are out of focus which take away the
quality of the shot as well as distracting the audience from the story. Therefore, I have learnt
to always ensure that I focus the camera before each shot and to take note of what lighting
sources I use so that the lighting stays consistent throughout the video. Other elements of
mise-en-scene that needed improvement were the locations as the filming studio could have
been made to look more realistic as a living room and there were parts of the office that were
not suited for a police office such as the art gallery featured in the background which the
storyline unbelievable and unconvincing. Next time, I will select my locations more carefully
and add aspects of mise-en-scene to make them look more credible; if I was to film the living
room scene again, for instance, I would either film in an actual living room or I would add
features such as pictures or flowers to add realism to the location. Also, the crime scene
itself doesnt look very realistic and would need more blood or other aspects of mise-enscene such as a murder weapon or police tape to improve it. Notably, there is also a lot of
background noise featured in this video which makes the dialogue less audible and it makes
the location seem quite fake by adding in asynchronous sound. This is obvious when the
officer leaves the office as you can hear children talking in the background which ruins the
quality of the video for the audience and it distracts them from the storyline. Due to this, I
have learnt to film in locations or particular time periods where there is a lack of noise or to
possibly incorporate non-diegetic music to prevent the background noise from affecting the
audience. Continuity was also another weakness that affected the quality of the video as
within the office scene the officer is shown putting on her hat with two hands while she holds

a notebook in another shot which makes the video look unprofessional and unrealistic so in
the future, I will focus more on ensuring that continuity is ensured in future video projects.
Taking these elements into account, I believe that although my given brief was followed, the
weaknesses of my video need improvement and ruined the overall enjoyment of the video.
Since the brief mentioned having a person enter a door, have a conversation with match on
action, the 180 degree rule and shot-reverse- shot, I feel like my groups video concept
should have been simplified so that we could focus on the technical elements of it more such
as continuity to improve the video rather than having a detailed storyline with less video
quality. Therefore, within my film opening, I will create a more simplistic story to allow me to
have more style in the technical aspects I convey.