Evaluation

What specialism did you choose and why? How are you hoping it will help to
improve your future productions?
I chose Cinematography as my speciality, as in the future I would like to be a
Director. To be a director I feel like it is very valuable knowledge to understand the
cinematography side of movies, as then you know the limitations and vision of the movies that you
are creating. It also helps to fine tune your ideas to a more precise vision so that it is easier to
communicate exactly what you want in each shot to the cinematographers.
I also chose cinematography as my specialism, as I wanted to understand more about the history of
cinematography. This allowed me to gain insightful knowledge on how the techniques that I use in my
films, came about because of the cinematographers in the past that made revolutionary developments.
Gaining further information about cinematography will help my future productions, as now I know
when to use cinematic effects like the vertigo technique in the correct context. This well help enhance
my productions as now I am able to include new techniques, like improving my use of colour to make
my films more impactful for the audience.
Focusing more on cinematic features in the scriptwriting process, will continue to give my
productions a high-quality feel, as I will be able to write techniques into the script instead of thinking
about unique camera angles whilst shooting. This will help to give each shot more purpose and
intention, as I will be more selective with the style shots so that they match the emotions of the script
and scene.
As I learnt more details about specific cinematographers like Garrett Brown, who created the
Steadicam it has inspired me to look at similar ways of filmmaking. I am now looking into Steadicam
training because of how smooth and effective his shots were. This will massively improve my
productions, as it will make dynamic shots much easier and smoother than the handheld shots that I
currently am doing.

How effective do you feel your research is? Are there any gaps or did you have to complete
further research when putting your script together?
I feel like my research was very effective as I discovered all the necessary information that I needed
for the script writing stage, and also found extra information on some subjects like Louis Le Prince,
that I didn’t use in my production but I found were useful just to give myself a greater understanding
of his life.
After completing my research and moving onto my script, I did not have to find out any further
information to fill gaps in my script from an information point of view. This was due to the fact that I
made sure that I had completed extensive research into each section. However, I did have to go back
and find out how the developments made the audience feel. As the reactions of the audience had a big
part in how films did and why some films like Citizen Kane started out as a flop, but then came to
be one of the most influential and important films in history.
As I don’t have an extensive knowledge on films, I had to ask around on what people thought were
important movies, this helped me to know which part of the history of film I should focus on. Having
a lack of relevant research was also a hinderance, as I wasn’t able to find information that gave an
insight into what I was talking about in my script. To overcome this challenge, I asked others about
where they found their sources, this reduced the time it took me to filter through
sites to find reliable resources.

Do you think all your sources were reliable? Which were good and which were
less so?
I do feel like all my sources were reliable, as I fact checked against other websites to ensure that all
the information, I discovered was correct. I did find some minor discrepancies in the dates of certain
events. For example, on some sites I found that the first ever short film was created in 1870. Whereas,
elsewhere I found that it was actually in 1888.
I used a combination of YouTube videos and google search. I found that YouTube videos were much
more reliable than google, as people who had made the YouTube videos had already filtered through
false information to find reliable resources so that made it much easier as I could just use their facts.
To find reliable sites on google, I went to recognised authorities like the BBC and empire magazine.
These large establishments spend more time making sure their facts are correct and often have an
entire sector dedicated to fact checking their reports. Another reliable resource I used was interviews
from the director or cinematographer themselves. This helped as I didn’t have to worry about the
information being incorrect, as it is first-hand information.

Did you complete any primary research and how did it help you in understanding techniques in
greater detail?
For my primary research I recreated the techniques that the cinematographers created in the past that
changed the way people created films. I recreated both the dolly zoom and deep focus effect. This
helped me understand the techniques in greater detail as these two camera effects are quite technical
and hard to master. This meant that I was able to understand the way the techniques worked faster
and easier, as I had practical learning when I tried the techniques out for myself.
It also gave me a greater appreciation for the techniques when they are used films, as I understood the
amount of work it took to put into just one shot and the amount of retakes, I had to do to get my more
simple version of the techniques perfected.

What do you feel the strengths of your script are and how could you further improve it?
I feel like overall my script was very strong, as I was able to get across an evenly spread out timeline
of the events in history that changed the way people created film in future productions. I made sure
that I include the dates of each event to give further insight into why at the time that would have been
an impactful change in technique. I also made sure that my piece was chronologically order so that it
made it as easy to understand the timeline as possible.
Some improvements that I would give to my work, are that I could’ve included a few more insights
into what the reactions of the audiences were like, after they saw the new developments in film or
technology. As most of these changes wouldn’t have occurred if the cinematographers weren’t
thinking about how they wanted the film to come across to the audience.
Another improvement I could’ve made would’ve been to look at a much larger range of
cinematographers. This would have given me more examples of techniques that changed the way we
look at films. Although I did not need to add much more information into my
production, I would have just helped to give me a great knowledge on
cinematographers, which will help in the future as I could use the techniques that
they use in my own productions.

What have you learnt from this process and how can you utilise it in your
remaining projects?
In this project, I have learnt that I should make sure that I research into detail on the subjects that I am
focusing on, as although I may not have had to use the information in the piece, it gives me a better
understanding of the subject so that I can create a more educated piece of work at the end of the
project.
I will utilise this in my remaining projects by setting a standard of a high amount of research to ensure
that every project from now on has the same amount of research. As the research will give me the
opportunity to enhance the rest of my project as the high quality will then be reflected in the rest of
my work.
From the process, I have also learnt that I need to complete my research much faster than I have done
in this project. This is because if I had finished my research much earlier, it would have given me time
to improve my work to ensure that I hadn’t missed anything. I would have been able to make my
quality of work much higher, whilst still hitting the deadline dates on time. Whereas, in this project I
have had to rush aspects of my work, that ultimate meant that I haven’t been able to achieve the same
high level production as I would’ve liked to have created.