For this assignment, we were tasked with creating the first 5 minutes of the pilot episode of a TV Drama. In my group there was Victoria, Cheryl, Becky, and I. We decided to go together as a group because we had been together as a group for the previous assignment and we were all happy with our team and are comfortable with each other (and therefore more comfortable with sharing ideas, suggestions, criticisms, etc, than we would have been with a group we didn't know well). We are all aware of our different strengths and they come together quite well - Becky is best at paperwork, Victoria and I are best at the creative aspects, and Cheryl is best when it comes to making decisions regarding our final production.
Taking into consideration our time limit and us having never created something like this before, I think that overall what we produced is quite good and the production of it went quite well. Although we did encounter quite a few issues prior to filming, I think it still went quite well - well enough for us to produce a good quality production. However, I think that we should have watched some episodes of more TV drama closer to the time of filming as many of the shots we got were especially short (uncharacteristic of many TV dramas).
Although our original idea meant it was supposed to be very fast-paced with quick, confusing shots, I think that we have too many parts of our production with that kind of editing and, paired with the shortness of the majority of our shots, it just makes the overall piece seem amateurish and jumpy, and makes the bits that we need fast-paced and confusing rather ineffective.
Our audience feedback told us that this kind of editing is 'at times too disorientating' and 'makes it seem like [we] don't know how to edit', as opposed to our intention of it being obviously purposefully like that and intriguing. If we were to re-edit I would possibly change one of these fast jumpy scenes to be more normal (which would make the other scene more effective) and lengthen some of the speaking shots during the conversation between our two main characters as I feel that the way the camera keeps jumping from both of their faces without much pause is quite uncomfortable to watch.
UPDATE: Rewatching the re-edited version, I think that because I have added to the 'party scene' (the very beginning scene) it makes the other scenes that had similar editing to the original version of it stand out more because of how different this first scene now looks. Feedback from the audience of the re-edited version tells us that it is more understandable than they originally thought, with similar reasons to our own - 'probably because the party is now really different to the other bits'.
I am super happy with how the editing of this scene went because the bright colours ensure that the production as a whole is not visually boring.
Editing was somehow simultaneously made easier and more difficult because, due to one of our cameras' sound not working properly, we planned filming accordingly to ensure we still captured the sound we needed with the other camera. Although this made editing and syncing the sound and visual more difficult, it worked out quite well because, when editing we found that my camera's sound did work but still sounded significantly different to that filmed on our other camera; this meant that us being cautious and prepared prevented us from encountering what would have been a quite significant issue during editing.
In terms of our final production, although it is much better than we had anticipated I definitely think it could be improved. For example, we were unable to capture some of the shots we wanted due to limited time in our schedules for filming and a lack of available locations. These few missing parts have shortened our final piece quite significantly and I believe it may have made our story line a lot less clear and possibly more difficult to follow.
Personally, I think that, although effective at some points, the lack of sound/background music makes part of the beginning of our TV advert (when Felicia has just woken up and it getting ready) feel quite boring. If I have time, I would like to discuss adding music to this part with my group, see if we can possibly find something suitable, and then add it in so that it makes that part less boring while also making the silent parts more effective.
UPDATE: I'm now fine with having this scene with basic sounds of her movements, with no additional music, because I think it could be slightly overwhelming having it immediately after our quite extreme first scene, and think the silence is representative of her feelings being hungover.
There is also a part of our drama that I find quite visually boring (where our two main characters are sat on a sofa talking) despite revelations - because there isn't much movement, nor any change in the mise-en-scene, and lighting) and it makes our inexperience show through.
Despite these issues that I would like to change, I like the overall outcome and, as well as getting audience feedback that concluded the same, personally feel that it leaves the viewer on the edge of their seat: wanting more information, wondering what is going on, and what is about to happen.
UPDATE: After re-editing slightly, I am very pleased with the final production and don't think we can do much else without re-shooting but I wouldn't want to anyway because of how much I like what we have produced.
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